Mystique Voyage
by MiyuTanemura
Summary: AU. The team's new mission is shrouded in mystery. And when Gray starts behaving strangely the team starts to get worried. Will they be able to come out of this mission unscathed? Natsu/Gray Story dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen.
1. One

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

><p><strong>Mystique Voyage<strong>

_Welcome to my Mystique Voyage -  
>An inner trip to fantasy, freedom and love.<br>A conquest of fear, lonesomeness and dislike.  
>Welcome to my world!<em>

* * *

><p>The town was quiet in the early hours of morning. Only the sound of the waves crashing upon both the shore and the dock's pillars. The few boats that were moored were moving according to the sea's movement.<p>

As light started to emerge in the horizon, accompanied by a myriad of colours that faintly became more pronounced and slowly grew, the caw of the seagulls began to be heard.

The seashore town started to stir.

Gray was walking down the road, towards the docks. He heard the call of the sea, which was something he wasn't expecting to. The team was behind, still plunged in oblivious slumber, at least as much as he knew.

The orange glow that painted the horizon was growing, the same way as if it were under the broad strokes of a painter. Gray shook his head at his own silly musings. It was too early to be coherent so that was his excuse for such thoughts, even if only to himself.

His pace became strides as he felt a sudden urge to reach the shore faster. The buildings, of faded colours due to both the sun and the salty atmosphere that corroded the colours, were becoming stifling to him, the oppression growing the longer he stood among them, the sidewalk feeling like quicksand and an unsurmountable obstacle.

Inside, Gray could feel a restlessness. His magic was unsettled but he didn't know how or why. Since he had made peace with himself, allowed himself to be grounded and more open to others, Gray had been finding new ways to learn and become stronger. Now… now, it seemed like all that work had been for naught as it felt like his ice was melting under the sprinkles of salt water that sprayed where the waves crashed the shore.

The ice mage couldn't deny, not to himself, that this feeling was making him feel shaken. And yet, there was that beckon. Like a siren call that pulled him towards the sea.

Gray found himself leaving the town but instead of walking towards the docks, like he would no doubt do with his team later, or to the pier near it, he went farther. He went to the small beach. His boots sunk on the sand and it was slightly difficult to walk but Gray persisted on and in no time was reaching the strip of sand that was bathed by water.

As per usual in him, his shirt went away – it was too warm anyway, with half of the fiery globe already breaching out of the horizon – and was soon followed by his boots. The freezing contact of his foot with the wet sand made the familiar cold flare up his leg. He curled his toes into the sand and then, as the pull went stronger, walked into the freezing water.

The cold was familiar yet strange. The saltiness was new and quite unwelcome. Gray knew that he didn't want to continue but his body didn't follow his instructions and kept walking deeper into the sea. His hair was drooping and becoming plastered to his forehead and face, his eyesight becoming foggy. But Gray felt his right hand extending towards the sun and could _feel_ fingertips brushing against his hand and-

Loud splashing noises came from behind and suddenly Gray felt strong, fiery hands grasping his arms before he was being pulled into a warm chest. Loud words were being yelled into his ear but he could not discern what was being said.

And then, as if a taut wire had been snapped, Gray felt himself plunging into darkness.

* * *

><p>Natsu was confused.<p>

He had felt the first stirrings towards a conscious state as the sun rose, as usual, but when he opened his eyes and looked around in the shared bedroom to find it empty. Natsu had a strange feeling and hurried to get up and ready and in no time he was out the door. Out of the inn they were at.

His nose picked up a very familiar scent and soon Natsu was running down the empty streets – the faintest signs of people waking starting to appear at the edge of his attention. But Natsu paid no heed to any of that as the closer he got to the sea, the faintest the scent became, shrouded in a number of other scents – some more pleasant than others.

Biting back a groan of frustration, Natsu looked around. By the corner of his eye he could see the sun rising, a surge of power flowing through his body.

And it was then that he saw him.

Gray was on the small beach, walking slowly towards the water. Natsu called out for him but the surrounding noises muted his voice, apparently, for Gray did not heed him. And then the ice mage was inside the water, it was nearly reaching his hip and he didn't seem to want to slow down. Natsu started out in a sprint to see what had happened to his friend. He noticed how he was extending his hand out into the sun, a greeting perhaps?

No, it was too odd and Natsu had to stop him. So he entered the freezing water and grabbed his friend's arms, pulling him back to him. Yelling disjointed words at his friend that went unheeded.

And then Natsu had a passed out Gray on his arms.

With a sigh he started walking towards the shore, dragging the dead weight of his friend.

A nagging suspicion on the back of his mind, the frown etching itself deeper in his features.

'What the hell happened here?' he wondered as he finally got to the sand, pausing to haul Gray onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A cold wind had risen and cut through the Salamander who shivered. Sure, he was a dragonslayer and that whole thing with the fire but not even he was immune to a cold wind, especially as he had ran into the sea water. He had to get them to the inn soon. And then talk to the girls. Something weird seemed to be happening and it might jeopardize their mission.

And Gray too…

* * *

><p>After what looked like a longer walk – heck, Gray wasn't exactly a lightweight – they got to the inn and Natsu managed to take them to their bedroom. He dumped Gray none too gently on a chair before going to the small adjoining bathroom to grab a couple of towels. He took away Gray's boots, socks and pants, noticing how Gray had foregone his undergarments. In passing he couldn't help but think how freezing water still worked on ice mages and… let things shrink a little. He hoped he would remember that later to tease the ice mage.<p>

But now he quickly dried him and put him on the bed. Then he hurried to clean himself, throw the wet clothes on the hamper and get dressed – again – to go see the girls and see what they should do now.

He knocked on Lucy and Erza's bedroom and was quickly granted access.

"Good morning, Natsu." Lucy greeted with a large smile as she motioned for him to go sit at the table.

"Ah, good morning. Did you sleep well?" he replied, distractedly.

"Yes, it was a good night of rest. Lucy and I were discussing our next options for the mission." Erza said as she stirred her tea.

"The mission. Right…" Natsu nodded. "Well, see…"

"What's wrong?" Lucy queried.

"There's something happening. I mean…" Natsu plucked a small bread from the basket and started munching on it.

"Stop beating around the bush. What's happening?" Erza asked as she sat back on her chair and stared at him.

"I don't know what's happening but this morning I saw Gray-"

"Ah, Gray. Why didn't he come with you? Is he still sleeping?" Lucy asked as she sipped on her tea.

"That's the problem. I woke up earlier and he wasn't in the room. We all know how Gray likes to sleep in. I followed him and ended up on the beach. He was in the water, walking somewhere. It was odd. I don't know if he was awake."

"What? Do you think he was sleepwalking?" the Celestial mage wondered.

"Gray never suffered from that. I wonder what happened…" Erza leaned forward, placing her hand in her chin. "But maybe we should watch over him, wait to see if he can tell us something when he awakes."

"Yes, let's go." Lucy agreed.

"We can continue breakfast on my room, then." Natsu was following them but bringing a tray with food.

They moved to the boys' room where Gray was still resting. It looked like he hadn't even moved.

Natsu placed the tray on the small table and went downstairs to get more food to be brought to the room. The girls had settled silently at the table, looking between Gray and the pamphlet with the overall info for the mission. They were talking in a low voice.

* * *

><p>Gray came to feeling warm and comfortable, something that didn't really associate with what he last remembered.<p>

It was quieter too.

He finally opened his eyes only to stare at the slightly cracked plaster of a ceiling. Gray frowned.

And then he heard the low voices. He scrunched up his face before opening his bleary eyes.

"Look, he's coming to." He heard someone – Lucy or Erza? – say.

There was a noise of a door closing and Gray looked in that direction. It was Natsu.

"Glad to see you awake." The dragonslayer said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** This story is dedicated to my good friend, Citrus Sunscreen. Happy birthday, my dear, so sorry that the story took so long to get to you.

I'm writing it for NaNoWriMo and posting as I go (so as not to be more belated xD) so, let's see how this goes.

Note that this story is unbetaed, for the moment. I'll come back to it and edit in December. ^^

Hope you enjoy it.

The title and some of the imagery come from Tarja Turunen's song, Mystique Voyage. It's a good song.

As usual, feedback is highly appreciated.


	2. Two

Gray sat up and looked around, assessing that he was, indeed, in the bedroom he was sharing with Natsu.

'How the hell did I get here?' he wondered as he made to push away the covers only to realize that he was naked. 'What the-?' he stared at Natsu, receiving a smirk in response.

Turning towards Erza and Lucy – and not looking at Natsu who walked calmly to sit on his bed – he saw his friends looking expectantly at him.

"How the hell am I here?" the ice mage grumbled.

Lucy leaned back in her chair and seemed to lose some of the tension while Erza pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh.

"It would seem that you went for a walk…" Lucy started.

"To the sea." Natsu interjected, as he started to eat the food they had brought.

"The sea? What?" Gray repeated, confused.

"Yes, Natsu saw you amble through town and head to the sea. Not only to the shore, you had to enter the water." Erza said in her no-nonsense way. She also had leaned back on the chair, crossing her legs and laid the pamphlet on the table top. She was running her fingers over it distractedly.

"But… that makes no sense! I don't remember any of it." Gray tried to counter, but, as he tried to remember what might've happened, his memories were hazy, like a fog had settled on his brain.

"Not that it matters now." Natsu started saying, as he buttered up a thick slice of dark bread. "We have more things to worry about than what a frozen pea brain might be up to…"

"Who are you calling pea brain, flame-fart?"

"Why you…" Natsu placed the bread down on the tray.

"Boys…"

That simple word, said in _that_ voice, had both mages freezing and gulping. Both looked at Erza and attempted to laugh sheepishly.

"We weren't saying anything…" Natsu tried.

"Yeah, we weren't being serious or anything." Gray backed up, as both exchanged worried looks hoping that the serious air had stopped surrounding Erza.

Lucy coughed and so the dangerous moment was broken.

"Like Erza and I were discussing before Natsu knocked on our door, we must go out and gather more information about the mission. They said that the info would be more understandable and given if _in situ_, and so here we are." She paused. "But we must be sure if you're feeling well, Gray."

"Yes, we don't know what happened today and it might put you at a disadvantage." Erza completed the thought.

"But, I'm not feeling any different. I can't explain what happened but I don't think that I'm any different or weak or…"

Erza raising her hand put a stop to his ramble.

"Alright. But let's proceed with caution. To cover more ground, I'll pair up with Natsu and you can go with Lucy. But you must be careful, okay?"

"Alright. Fine. I'll behave." The ice mage grumbled as he seemed to deflate. "But now I'm going to get ready and eat something. See you in a bit?"

"Sure, we'll be in our room."

And with that the two mages left the boys in the room. The only noise heard was the one made by the fire mage as he munched and drank.

"I hope there's still enough for me." He said dryly.

"Don't worry," Natsu replied between chomping and gulping, "the second tray will be here in no time, I bet."

And that's when there was a knock on the door. Gray tilted his head towards it so that Natsu would answer it.

The fire mage in no time had a tray placed on top of Gray's bed and was looking hungrily at the food in it.

"Let's dig in!" he said, as he started what looked like the second part of his breakfast.

The ice mage rolled his eyes.

"Why are you such a glutton?" he wondered in mock exasperation as he helped himself with some bread.

"Not glutton." Natsu grumbled as he pouted.

In no time they had cleaned the trays and breakfast was over.

"So, what do you think about Erza's plan?" Natsu wondered, as he stretched on the bed.

"What's for me to think?" Gray shrugged as he put on his pants. "We're here in a mission and we're going to succeed in it."

"What about that strange thing, today?"

"What about it?" Gray turned to Natsu as he picked a shirt.

"There must be a reason as to why it happened? We don't know and it might happen again."

"Stop being dumb. It was nothing."

"Nothing? You call nothing ambling down the streets and making an attempt at drowning?"

"I did not-" Gray started, exasperated.

"You did! Has your brain frozen so much that you can't understand that?"

Gray strode towards Natsu and pulled him by his vest.

"I did _not_ and we're done with this." He seethed before releasing Natsu and heading out. The door slammed behind him.

Natsu let himself flop down on the bed before groaning.

"You did… and that's what worries me…" he told the empty room.

* * *

><p>As planned, they had separated into two groups. Natsu and Erza were going through the western part of the town while Lucy and Gray had taken the north one.<p>

Natsu had been walking a few steps behind Erza, he was grumbling slightly. Erza paused to wait and assess her friend.

'He seems to be taking this harder than expected. I need to understand what's going on between those two…' she thought idly as the dragonslayer seemed to be dragging his feet.

"Come on Natsu. We must find something with the townspeople. They must know if something happened. And it's not with you walking like that that we're going to accomplish anything."

"But, Erzaaa…" Natsu whined. "I knew that I should have brought Happy with us. At least he would be on my side."

"I'm not taking sides." Erza rolled her eyes. "I'm just telling you to snap out of it and, well, be yourself? You've been behaving oddly and you can't tell me that this is how you usually are." She led Natsu to lean against one of the washed up stony walls. "Out with it."

"Erza…" Natsu sighed. "It's nothing, I guess… I mean, it is something. I just… woke up and Gray was missing and then the way I found him on the water. I swear, it seems as if he somehow became different. Heck, I'm not sure but even his scent seems to have shifted."

"The scent?" Erza repeated.

"Yes, it's become… agh!" he ran a hand through his hair. "I can't explain. It just seems different."

"That would be a matter to be worried about, yes." She echoed. "But right now there's nothing we can do about it. We must try to finish the mission all the while taking a close look at Gray. I don't like what I'm hearing but at this point our only option is to wait and see."

"I don't like to wait and see. Can't we just send Gray away or bash his head against a wall or something? That might straighten his ideas…"

"Yes, because giving Gray a concussion – or worse – is going to solve everything…" Erza answered dryly.

Natsu glared at her.

"Come on. We have work to do."

They walked in the direction they had come to the previous day, the train station. There was a bustle, which wasn't unusual at that time of the day. People came and went through the crowd, colourful banners above the stalls shaded the merchants and both the noise of people talking and bargaining and of the food made nearby washed over both mages in no time.

"I don't know if this is the right place to start, huh?" Natsu turned at the red head and tilted his head towards the mass of people.

"It might be. We just need to look for the right person."

They started walking towards the stalls but Natsu wasn't exactly following Erza's logic.

'Why come here? This is more people trading food and fabric and books and an assortment of jewels and the stuff. What could…?'

At that precise moment it seemed to _tilt_ in his head, as they headed to a niche on the wall between two stalls; one with iron utensils and the other with garish colours. The dark wood of the door could nearly be dismissed.

They entered what looked like a cramped bookstore, dimly lit and with papers and books filling every surface. Behind a mahogany counter a man, in his late fifties and with a bad case of baldness, was sitting.

"Good morning. May I help you?"

"Yes, we would like some information about the area…"

"Would you like a map, then?"

"No. We... what we would like to know about is the island."

"The… the island?" the man gulped audibly, sweat beading his forehead. "Why would you want to…"

"We have business to attend to there."

"But people don't go there anymore. It's forbidden." He said fearfully.

"That's strange. Because we were informed that it is possible to go to the island." Erza said, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't know about that. But not many go there. And return." The man stood and pushed some papers out of the way until he located a pair of glasses. He put them on and turned towards the overflowing bookcase. "But, here." He handed out a book. "I hope this book's useful to you."

"How much is it?" the red head asked.

"No charge. If you can solve the mystery, that'll be pay enough." The man seemed to nod to himself and busied himself with some papers, dismissing the mages.

Natsu and Erza left the tiny store, returning to the sea of sounds and scents. It was quite a difference after the dim, stuffy and dustiness of the bookstore. Things were way livelier outside, that was a certainty.

"Okay, it seems like we got something. Should we continue looking or do you want to regroup, analyse the book and whatever info the others have before taking the next step?" Natsu queried as they walked into the middle of the busy street.

"We should continue to look for some more information – it can't hurt, right? – and then, go back to the inn." She said as she ran her fingers over the cover.

"Sure. Can we eat now? The food stalls are making me hungry." And to make a point, his stomach took that moment to let out a growl.

"You're impossible." Erza looked at him with an affectionate smile. "Fine. Come, let's go find you some food." And she started to go deeper into the crowd.

Natsu started following only to have his hand grabbed. He tried to pull away but his limb was being grasped in a vice-like grip. Natsu turned around only to come to face with an old lady.

She was small, frail looking with her white hair caught in a messy bun. Her clothes were in a rough brown cloth with a cloak thrown over. But what caught most of Natsu's attention was her face, skin tanned by the sun and with deep wrinkles carved on it. Her green eyes were bright, though.

"You won't find all the information about the island on a book." She said in a roughened voice that was nearly drowned by the surrounding noise.

"What?" Natsu asked startled.

"It goes deeper, older, into the very bones of the town. The beginning. It's given us too much suffering and heartbreak. It won't stop until it's found." She shook her head vehemently and brought her other hand to hold onto Natsu's forearm as if to make a point before making as if to leave.

"No. Wait!" Natsu instinctively closed his hand on the too thin forearm. "You have to tell me more. What's going on in here?"

But the woman only shook her head at his enquiry.

"It's not my place. Not the moment. But, here." She rummaged through her coat's pocket and gave a victorious grunt as she found what she wanted. "Maybe this will help. The fire can be only chance but just because of its strength. To lose the thread will only bring tears in hindsight. Puddles do not ask for why not. Puddles…" she extricated herself from Natsu's grasp and placed something into his hand. In no time had disappeared into the crowd.

'What the fuck was that?' Natsu thought, flabbergasted. 'That was… what the hell is going on in this damned town?' he wondered as he frowned and looked at what was in his hand.

It was a bracelet.

'Odd.' The fire mage mused as he brought said bracelet up to his line of sight. It was a quaint little thing, going as far as the width of his fingers, with a blue gem as the only ornament in the silvery thread. 'This has belonged to a woman, most likely. I'll have to show it to the girls. Oh. Speaking of the girls, where's Erza, I wonder.'

The fire mage started heading to where the scent of food was stronger and managed to catch sight of a red head he would most likely know anywhere.

"Ah, there you are!" he said when he got to her side. In return he was presented with what looked like well-cooked skewered meat. His mouth started watering nearly instantly. "Foooood! Gimmeeeee!" he started acting overly enthusiastic and that brought a laugh out of Erza.

As soon as she relented and gave him the food Natsu was on the meat in seconds. His growling stomach didn't take long to calm down.

"Yuuummm! Food never tasted so good." He said after he had finished his share of food. The mages were sitting on the shade cast by one tall building, a little ways away from the main bustle. Erza gave a noncommittal noise and wiped her lips with a napkin and waited for the other mage to do the same.

"Yes, they do have a blend of spices that make food taste exquisite, here." She set the napkin down and grabbed the book. "And we might have a little more information now, too."

"Yeah, there's that. But..." Natsu grabbed the bracelet and extended his hand so that Erza saw it. "It also seems that we have more mystery." He said while he saw Erza focus on the bracelet. "I was given this by an old lady. No idea about what she meant or who that belonged to."

"Why didn't you tell be earlier?" demanded Erza.

"I kind of forgot?" the Salamander said sheepishly. "But I doubt it would be much of a help. For now, we don't know anything." He let out a sigh. "Do you think that the others are being more successful than us?"

"I don't know but, let's hope they are. Because, the way it is, we don't have much to go on. Only if we go to the island, maybe?" the red head ventured, as she placed her chin in her hand and looked at the sky.

"Well, for now, we must try to learn all we can about that place." Natsu confirmed, as he placed the bracelet in his pocket once again.

"Heh, but no letting Gray go near the water unsupervised again." Erza said with a humourless smile.

"No! That's for sure…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hm, I was thinking that this story was going to have two, three chapters at most. It doesn't seem likely, does it?

Citrus, I don't know if you're going to read this but it's still for you. (What kind of person gives this as a bday gift? xD)

Yeah, sorry about the OoCness and all the crap. Like I said, this is the raw thing, so all the incoherencies and bad things are because of the author's craziness. 'Cuz I'm crazy, it seems.

I've got to say, the comments made me quite happy. I hope you continue to enjoy whatever's to come.

As per usual, feedback is awesome. ^^


	3. Three

Lucy and Gray were walking down the paved streets in what looked to be a residential area. Actually, the houses were starting to look more well-kept, classier. It was, probably, the area where the more wealthy people lived. The more they walked, the deeper they went into this area, until they reached the market for the upper-class. It was in the midst of building with several businesses and, behind those, there were the outlines of larger buildings, what was probably an industrial area.

Lucy and Gray stopped at the intersection, between the residential and business area.

"So, what do you think we should do?" Lucy asked as she placed one hand on her hip.

"What do you mean? As in, going forwards to the businesspeople who will see us a nuisance and ignore us or the rich people who will probably be quite uptight and shoo us as if we were flies?" Gray exposed their options in an unhappy voice.

"You're really a bucket of sunshine today, huh?" The blonde teased. This action only got her a grumble and a shrug and the corners of her mouth tilted downwards. She stepped in front of him and placed a hand on his still clothed shoulder – Lucy had no illusions that it wouldn't remain like that for long. "Look. I don't know what happened today and, sure, you tend to be on the more mopish side of the spectrum but the way you're behaving isn't helping."

Gray seemed to recede into himself, not even saying a word. Lucy's temper flared and she had to bite her lip so as not to snap at him.

"Gray. I'm here. I'm your friend." She said earnestly, squeezing his shoulder. "I want to help – we all do. Don't shut us out, okay?"

This earned a sigh from the ice mage.

"I'm not… I mean, I don't want to. But you're all acting so weirdly." This earned a blonde eyebrow rising. "I'm telling the truth. From my point of view nothing happened. I don't think I'm different…" he said in a small, uncharacteristic voice. "To some degree, I don't remember. I can see your side but I, myself, can't accept it as true."

"In that case, what can we do? Remembering it or not, you gave Natsu a bit of a scare. And he isn't usually scared the way he was. He saw something that really shook him."

"Should I be honoured by being held in such a regard by the flame boy?" Gray said with a faint edge of mirth colouring his voice. Lucy just frowned.

"You shouldn't mock that. He cares for you, we all do." She said seriously.

"I know. It wasn't meant like that. I do know that you guys got my back. And that matters, a _lot_." Gray answered as seriously.

"Alright then, so you better stop moping and behaving like an asshole. The sooner we finish this damned mission, the sooner we'll be getting out of here."

"Though Natsu won't like that bit as much, heh?" Gray said, with a grin.

"Oh, shut up, you." Lucy said as she gave a small slap on Gray's arm.

"Okay. But now, what do we do? People are all inside, we can't just enter one of the stores and demand to know things about the island."

"True but…" Lucy tapped her lips with one finger, pensively. "This is the upper town. Maybe this is also the ruling centre, and that means having an archive of sorts, right?"

"You have a point." Gray nodded. "And to that I only have to add that you probably have been hanging around Levy for too long…" He added with a short laugh.

"Shut uuup!" Lucy said while shaking her head. "Come on now, we have to find the archives." She started to drag Gray to the business area.

They ended up having to ask where the common hall was located. They went through the maze-like streets until they got to the square where a fountain was located, right in front of the building with its rigid lines and imposing sandstone walls.

"How does this town have such a building? It's so… _bleh_!"

"Gray, you totally have earned points with the eloquence." The blonde laughed. "But, I can tell you that this town has been a key point in commerce. The harbour is situated in such a way that there was a time where the major commercial networks started here. And, well, as to the separation between the middle and lower classes and the higher one is pretty ordinary."

"I don't remember it being so in my hometown. Or where I went with Ur and Lyon. Or Magnolia."

"No, Magnolia's different. First of all, you should take in the size of the town." Lucy tutted slightly as they climbed the stairs to the hall's entrance.

"Okay, you have a point." Gray agreed as they walked inside the large building. "But you can't deny that at this time, it looks a bit bizarre…" he added in a low voice.

"No denying from here." Lucy concluded before they got to the counter and she started asking the woman behind it for the things they needed.

Gray took the time to look around. The inside of the building was quite Spartan, the heavy wooden doors occupying most of the attention, given the contrast between dark wood and white wall, and then there were columns that led a person to the counter. Behind it, and this first hall, there was a corridor that stood perpendicular to said hall, the expanse of wall that stood right in front of them, had a huge painting on display. The painting appeared to be showcasing the town as it had once been. The design of the buildings was familiar, as were the harbour and beach. People were going through their daily activities, some were only standing and, in some cases, staring right out the painting. There was a woman, with long black hair and very pronounced cheekbones, clad in a dark grey dress that made quite an impression on Gray.

The ice mage looked away, having the uncomfortable impression that those eyes were following him. It was unsettling but at the same time…

He was distracted from his musings as Lucy turned at him and they started walking to the corridor on the left side.

After navigating the maze-like corridors, the two mages got to the door whose inscription said "Archive" in neat black letters on a brass frame.

They entered and Lucy guided them through the tall bookshelves until they got to a nook where there was a table and four chairs. It was surrounded by bookshelves and there were two lamps on the table, adding to the existing light of the room.

"Well, this is the area of the oldest archives, here there must be any answer or clue as to the island and even the beginnings of the town." Lucy said as she was already looking at some books' spines.

"In that case, let's look and see if there's anything useful." Gray went in the opposite direction.

As he walked among the shelves, Gray could still hear the jingle of Lucy's keys, faintly – it was all that more noticeable as they seemed to be alone in the large room.

The ice mage walked and looked distractedly at the books. He didn't have much of an idea about what they were looking for. A book about the history of the place, about its roots? Or a census of sorts of the people? The growth and variation of the population?

If it were the case, Gray wasn't on the right place, as all the books he saw were more focused on agriculture, the weather and accounting.

No, that was not what he wanted.

The dark haired youth continued walking, mildly distracted, pushing slightly at the neck of his shirt. It was getting hotter or was it just his impression?

And then, his body seized, freezing in place and making his throat constrict. A faint scent of sea water hit his nostrils and his shoulder was roughly grabbed, making him turn and crash against one of the shelves. He raised his head to stare at a woman.

She wasn't exactly old, despite having light grey hair which was falling down her shoulders and back, but at the same time she wasn't young either. The deep green colour of her dress made her reddish eyes stand out eerily. She was smirking, her red painted lips giving her a cruel air.

"What the hell?" Gray gasped.

"Oh no, no. You don't get to do that…" her voice was low, a hushed purr that was nearly like a velvety caress against his exposed skin. "Not yet, at least." She leaned towards Gray, the back of her hand running down the ice mage's cheek.

Gray seemed to snap out of it and pushed at the woman.

"What do you think you're doing?" he nearly growled.

"Assessing the goods." Was the simple remark.

"Goods?" Gray repeated, in outrage. "I'm not goods or anything of the sort."

"_She_ wouldn't say that."

"Who's she?"

"Ah, you don't know." Her cruel smirk seemed to grow. "It's old. Older than most expect or remember. But it's tied to the earth, the sea. It holds all the answers."

"Stop talking in riddles." Gray demanded, he could feel his magic flowing down his limbs, reaching his fingertips. His hands twitched slightly as it seemed like we was going to take action. But he didn't. And, he noticed with shock, he couldn't.

"I don't think I will. Even so, you can't make me, anyway. Right?"

"What did you do?" The ice mage bit out.

"Me? Nothing. But you might think about revising your stance. There are more important things here at play, as far as I know…"

Gray glared at her.

"But I'm going to be lenient and give you something. You may consider it a gift…" her smile was predatory. "Here." She threw something small at Gray, whose body moved to grab with no conscious thought. "It might be useful."

And with that and a wave she left. Gray was still leaning against the bookshelf, looking dazed as he still held his hand in the air, where he had grabbed the object.

'Okay, this fucking day is getting weirder and weirder.' He thought, as he shook his head in an attempt at clearing it. After taking a couple of deep breaths he was feeling normal again. He decided to go back to the place where he and Lucy had separated. Maybe the Celestial mage had been more successful… finding more books and having less weird encounters.

He managed to find the place with little trouble, and saw that Lucy was there. She had a bunch of books spread out in front of her and was poring attentively into one of them.

"I see you have found some books, huh?" he asked.

The blonde looked up distractedly, before nodding and looking back down to it, her right hand waving to her side to have Gray sitting down.

"Yes, I found something that might look interesting. Maybe we'll get some information out of these books. Like I thought, there are books that go back to the beginning of the village, the reason as to why this place had the preferred conditions to flourish…" she paused to gather her thoughts. "But I don't know if it'll help us about the island. From what I got, it wasn't here before…" her face scrunched up in concentration. She rubbed at her forehead before looking back at Gray who was still standing up. "It seems like the island just suddenly… appeared. It doesn't make sense." She shook her head, mumbling something unintelligible before perking up and smiling at Gray. "But what about you? Did you find something?"

Gray shifted his weight from foot to foot before walking to the table and sitting in front of the blonde. He placed his hands on the table and, without meaning tightened his hold on the earring, so much that the sharp edge pinched at his hand.

"I wouldn't say that _I_ found anything. Apparently, it's quite the contrary…" he mumbled as he looked at his hands and let himself relax them.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Lucy tilted her head slightly to the side, looking curious.

"It seems that things find me…?" Gray's uncertainty clearly weighted his words and made Lucy sit up straight.

"What happened?" she said, her left hand grabbing the edge of the table with such strength that her knuckles were white.

"Nothing much. Just… I was walking around and a woman started talking to me, she didn't make any sense but she gave me this," he opened his right hand, letting it drop to the table while cradling the tiny object.

"What's this?" Lucy mumbled as she picked up the golden earring.

"I would say it's an earring…" Gray said while he shrugged his shoulders.

As the Celestial mage held the earring higher, they both saw a strange glimmer surround it.

"It's beautiful." Lucy said, finally. "But now the question that arises is, to whom did that belong to…"

"Fucking great, just what we needed. Another thing we don't know anything about. Tell me, why did we accept this mission, again?"

"The pay is good. And we could all use it." Lucy was quick to answer the rhetorical question. "But you're right. That's a piece of a puzzle that we're not trying to solve right now. Now we need to focus on the things that we know. And the knowledge from before and that these people gathered."

"Yes, that would be for the best." Gray acquiesced.

At that precise moment they were interrupted by a sudden noise, that looked something like a '_grooouic_', that had them staring at each other. And then Lucy's face became red like a tomato.

"Huh, maybe it would be best to continue after a lunch break? It might be a good idea to go meet with the others." Gray was trying to contain his laughter.

"Shut up!" Lucy slapped Gray's forearm before nodding. "Lunch and see what they found and then return here. I think that we should learn some more things before Erza's next part of the plan."

"And what would that be…?" Gray waved his free hand in a '_do continue_' motion but the blonde shook her head.

"No. I don't want to talk about this right now. Come on, let's go." She grabbed her handful of books and with a quick "Don't go anywhere," she left Gray in their nook before disappearing behind some shelves. In no time she was back and so they headed to the exit. Thankfully it didn't take long to make the path, in the opposite direction, and they got back outside rather quickly.

As soon as they left the building, a cold wind ran by them at the same time that the sun's brilliance made them blink for a few moments.

From their vantage point they could see that clouds were closing in.

"Maybe we should hurry back to the inn. It looks like it might rain." Lucy mused.

"You're thinking that you should have brought at least one or two of the tomes, aren't you?" the ice mage's lips were slightly tilted up.

"Yes, it would have been preferable but I don't know if they allowed it. Or if they would remain intact."

"Yes, the rain might have been a hindrance." Gray shrugged. "Come on. Let's hope the others learned something more."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Ahhh, rl… you destroy my writing plans… -.-'

Anyway, does this look like something that could have been solved in three chapters? The way things are evolving, it seems like we still have a bit of a ride to go. Because, yup, the story's growing. It's the boys' fault, I assure you. And I'm so sorry about any OoCness and the such, but this is a mad sprint I'm trying to have. ^^'

Hopefully you, readers, are having fun. It was a chapter where nothing much happened but let's see if tomorrow something more happens. At least the boys are going to interact. :3

As usual, feedback is awesome and motivates a stressed writer to let her bunnies take her further. xD


	4. Four

The team reunited at the inn. They decided to eat nearby and so, with a quick trip to their respective rooms, they set to a tavern nearby.

The place they entered wasn't yet in full swing – although lunch-time approached, fast – so they managed to find a booth that was inconspicuous from the main entrance and where the bustle from the main area also masked their conversation.

As soon as they ordered, both sides of the table went silent, staring at each other. And then Lucy's stomach growled. It was loud enough to be heard by the four mages and the blonde went instantly beet red.

Natsu let out a guffaw and clapped her on the shoulder.

"It's a good thing that food's on its way, huh?"

Lucy's glare was softened by the tremble of her lips which were trying to suppress a laugh of her own. "Shut up. Your stomach is way worse, at times. And I don't mock you."

"Yes, well, today I was lucky. Erza treated me to some food. And it was delicious." He patted his stomach contently.

"That settles it, next time I have to pair up with Erza, if I'm to have food. Some people just don't cater to your needs…" The ice mage said in a long-suffering tone.

"Gray! You meanie!" Lucy pouted. "It's not my fault. Besides, you didn't say anything, how was I supposed to guess?"

"Boys… Lucy… come on, behave." The red head quietly chastised as she started nibbling on the bread their waiter had brought them in the meantime.

"Hey! There's food!" Natsu yelled, joyously.

"Back off, you're the last to be served or Lucy and I won't have anything to eat." Gray pulled the basket from Natsu's grabby hands.

"Killjoy." Natsu grumbled, sulking.

"It's not my fault that you're a bottomless pit. We also need to eat, yeah?" Gray replied airily as he took one bread and passed the basket to Lucy.

"This will allow us to hold on until the food gets here." The celestial mage stated as she handed Natsu the basket.

"Foood, fooood…" Natsu was humming under his breath as he lathered his bread with butter and plucked a bunch of slices of ham and placed them on his dish. He, at one point, started to get a tune going too.

The other mages just rolled their eyes at his absentmindedness.

Finally the dishes started coming to their table. Dishes and dishes heaped with steaming food. Natsu's eyes lit up with each dish placed in front of him. After the waiter had asked if anything else was needed and took his leave, the table quieted as they dug in.

The food was plentiful and tasty, and the hunger that the mages felt made them polish a good number of the dishes in no time.

After a while, the pace of the food consumption slowed some and small talk started to return.

"Hey, Erza, did you get something about the weather? For…" Lucy tilted her head meaningfully.

The red head nodded and cleaned her lips with a napkin before taking a gulp from her mug.

"Yes, one of the fishwives down at the market told me that the weather's condition is going to change. She was saying that there might be a storm coming."

"Ah, I see. So that's not good…" the blonde concluded.

Natsu and Gray stared at each girl, puzzled.

"What are you girls talking about?" Gray finally placed the question.

"Yes, it looks like you have some plans that weren't shared with us, doesn't it, Gray?"

The boys shared a look before returning their stares towards the girls.

"It's nothing," Lucy hurried to calm them.

"Actually, this morning I was talking to Lucy about what I think that should be the next step on our mission." The serious tone was back and so was Erza's serious look.

"I see." Gray said, unconvinced.

"But isn't what we just did supposed to be the first step in the mission? Know your playground." Natsu asked as he bit on a large chunk of juicy meat, some of the juice dribbling down his chin. "At least that's what I thought we were doing." He concluded, with a full mouth.

"Eww, stop it! It's disgusting." Lucy complained, making a disgusted grimace. "You don't speak with your full mouth!"

"What's the problem?" Natsu's words came out somewhat mangled as he was chewing. He got a kick from Gray for his troubles. "Ouch! Gray!" he wadded his half-greased napkin and threw it at Gray. "I never had this problem before…" he ended up mumbling before taking another large bite.

Erza just rolled her eyes a placed a hand on her forehead at her friends' antics. She stretched her hand to the plate of fried potatoes and gave a quick slap when she saw Natsu's greasy hand hovering over it.

"Natsu. Manners, please…" she stole the plate and dished out the potatoes to her dish. A slightly triumphant smile on her face.

"Not fair!" Natsu whined.

"Hehe, you just don't get in the way between Erza and her potatoes…" Lucy taunted playfully. And then she looked serious again. "Anyway, how did your morning go? Did you find anything else, anything useful?" She looked hopeful.

"Keep eating, Natsu, I'll speak." Erza told the dragonslayer, hitting him on the side with her elbow. "We went to this tiny bookshop and the shopkeeper gave us a book – it's in our bedroom, by the way – but…" she looked thoughtful, "he seemed a bit spooked when I mentioned the island. The man said that the book might help but I haven't read anything yet."

"Ah, so you thought the same way as us." Lucy started. "We decided to go to the archives, they're in the classy area of the town. And I can bet that, despite all the buildings being new and whatnot, it was the old, original placement of the town. Then, it just grew."

"But you can still see the old stuff in the façades, at least in the business area." Gray added.

"Right. But I also thought that it was a bit strange how empty everything was over there." The celestial mage frowned. "We didn't cross anyone, only the clerk at the common hall." She shrugged.

"That's not true." Gray suddenly cut in.

Everyone at the table paused and looked at him.

"Ah, you're right," the blonde suddenly remembered. "You had a strange encounter."

"Yes, and I told you about it. Not too long ago, how did you forget it already?" Gray smiled a little. "Ah, yes, your stomach started growling and you forgot everything else."

"Gray, do stop with those jokes or you'll learn how fearsome I am with the whip…" The blonde threatened, a huge fake smile on her face.

"Is that a promise?" Gray teased. The glare he got in response had him shaking his head and continuing with his tale. "Anyway, I was in the agriculture and whatnot section and all of a sudden this woman appeared and started saying weird shit and gave me…" he leaned back to rummage through his pocket, "this." He presented the small earring.

Erza and Natsu looked at it. Lucy, on the other hand, was pensive.

"Wait, Gray. You said that you were in the agriculture section? That's not possible"

"Huh, how so?" Gray put the earring back in his pocket.

"Because the section where I took my books – you remember, those about history and the roots? – was one row away from it. And I didn't hear a thing."

"How's that possible? I was there, the woman was there. And that earring is that proof that it happened." Gray shook his head.

"I can't say anything. I really don't know how that was possible."

"Speaking of," Natsu finally broke in, "strange women and riddles, something also happened to me."

"What?" the rest of his friends nearly yelled.

"Yeah…" The fire mage shrugged.

"But you didn't tell me anything." Erza countered.

"Oh, that's because the woman grabbed me when we left the bookstore and then, after, when I saw you, I was distracted by the food. And then I didn't think more about it, I guess." The fire mage said in a carefree way.

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose while Lucy facepalmed and Gray uttered an "are you for real?".

Natsu just helped himself to another dish and continued eating.

"Hey, we all have priorities. At that moment, food was mine. And it kind of still is." Natsu stabbed his fork on the salad place, chomping on the lettuce leaves.

"Oh, for the love of-" Gray didn't even finish his sentence, just rolled his eyes and went to have a fork fight with Natsu as he tried to take the meat from Gray's plate.

"But what did that woman _say_?" Lucy stressed the last word.

"Right now I don't remember – come on, Gray, you don't even like the onions! – but the old lady spoke in riddles and gave me a bracelet."

"A bracelet?" Erza stared at him, pushing a disobedient lock of hair behind her ear. "And where is it now?"

"It's in my pocket, I didn't want to let it in the room," Natsu shrugged. "But right now I'm not going to get it…" he lifted his hands, coated with grease and bits of greenery, to the table. "And before you ask, no, I don't let you get them from my pocket." He let out a laugh.

"Natsu!" Was the slightly scandalized response from the girls.

"Just sayin'…" the dragonslayer said before going back to his plate.

The conversation died down again as they finished the food. Erza went to pay for the meal while Natsu went to the restroom to do some clean-up.

* * *

><p>Before long they were on the streets, heading back to the inn. From the distance they could hear music, from a flute, that went dissonantly against the noise coming from the houses where people were having lunch and chatting. That meant also that the streets were empty, under the midday sun.<p>

Gray look up, the warmth wasn't sitting well with him – almost to the point of making him nauseated and it wasn't exactly a good way to be, especially right after having a meal such as the one he just had had…

The light was also hindering him, blinding him as it ricocheted on the sun-beaten walls. Erza had mentioned a change in the weather and he could see that, there were really dark clouds in the distance but they still had quite a way to go before covering the sun. Not that just covering the sun would do much, there was still the moisture in the air. The saltiness made it heavy and it pressed down on Gray's skin, clogged up his throat. And right now Gray was losing his patience, he was getting tired of this town.

As they reached the street that led to the inn, Erza paused.

"Okay, now we better decide what's going to be the next course of action."

"I want to go back to the archives," Lucy said instantly.

"I want to go explore the southern side of the town." Natsu added, he was filled with energy after their lunch.

"I was thinking that we could do that later." Erza countered. I don't think that one's going to find much at this hour – everything's closed for the moment."

"Oh," Natsu exhaled, his hypeness deflating.

"You can go check that book. I think I might go with Lucy to the archives." Erza said.

"Aww, there's so much more to do. I really didn't feel like reading a book." Natsu pouted.

"I can read the book," Gray finally said, in a tired voice.

"You doing okay, there, Gray?" Erza asked.

"I'm feeling tired. And this fucking sun… I hate the heat sometimes."

"Not every time, ice cube?" Natsu tried to tease.

"Shut up, flame head. You can't even read a book. You just want to go out and smash things." The ice mage's voice showed that he was losing his temper, fast.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. You're going to the inn now." Natsu shook his head.

"That might be for the best." Lucy said.

"Yes, and you can stay with him until the worst of the heat goes away and then you can go check the southern part of the town."

"What?" Gray yelped.

"I have to babysit him?" Natsu nearly screeched.

"It's going to be good for you, dumbasses!" Lucy said.

"At least we won't have to overly worry about Gray." Erza agreed. "That settles it. We have our plans for the afternoon. So, let's go. We'll meet again at sunset, is that okay?" Erza asked in that steely voice of hers. The one that brooked no argument.

With slumped shoulders Natsu and Gray agreed.

And so, they headed for the inn.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** It would seem that I'm posting this later each time. Today it was because I only started writing near midnight. Heh, I'm a slow writer so, my apologies.

The usual things; the story's unbetaed, this is really the first draft (hence the lack of a lot of things xD) for this story and I'm having fun by being a bit crazy. Damn the bunnies and damn the boys.

Yes, it might seem that we're getting away from the main topic (and maybe we swerved a bit) but there is a point to the madness! And tomorrow we're going to have Natsu and Gray in their shared room. Who's excited about that? xD

Okay, time to see if I can write some more before passing out. Oh, the joys of NaNoWriMo…

Comments are always fantastic for the muse (wherever she is)…


	5. Five

The bedroom seemed stifling, as the boys had left the blinds open and so the midday sun had had a lot of time to enter, by being reflected from the opposite building, and heat up the room. Gray hurried to close the blinds and created an ice wall behind his bed. It instantly started to melt but the environment chilled considerably. The ice mage threw himself onto his bed, bouncing first slightly and then grumbling as he wriggled on the bed in an attempt to find a comfortable position.

Natsu entered the bedroom after and rolled his eyes at Gray's actions.

"You're being overly dramatic, do you realize that?" The fire mage mused, giving a small "_ouch_" as Lucy elbowed him on the side and entered the room, forcing Natsu a little more inside. Erza was the last one to enter, having retrieved the book from her bedroom.

"Now, boys, behave." She said gravely. "I'm going with Lucy to the archives and we're going to check on some things, like we'd said. You better stay here and wait for a while and then go see if there's more information to be found."

"Try not to kill each other, alright?" the celestial mage said earnestly.

"Now you're being the dramatic one, Lucy…" Erza chided.

"Haha, I'm just joking. They wouldn't do that." Lucy said sheepishly.

"I'm not going to do anything, at least for the nearest time, because it's too hot to do anything." Gray grumbled into his pillow.

"You wimp!" Natsu mock teased as he walked to the bed, and sat on it, purposefully bouncing on it. "It's not even that hot. And you were doing alright yesterday."

"Well, today is a different day, okay?" the black haired youth tilted his head slightly up, mustering all of his grumpiness into a single glare, that was delivered with just one eye.

"Yeah, yeah. A different sunrise brings a whole new day and stuff." Natsu stretched on his bed, hands resting behind his head and he crossed his leg. "I think that it's okay for you girls to go. We're going to take a nap."

The two still standing mages shared a look before shaking their heads and making their way out of the room. Before the door closed it was possible to hear their conversation faintly, where they wondered if the room would still be up when they returned from the archives.

Natsu rolled his eyes at them. 'A bunch of overly dramatic people, I'm surrounded by them…' he thought as he turned to the side, glancing at Gray. The ice mage seemed to be sleeping already, probably wanting to escape from the heat.

To be fair, Natsu didn't think that it was all that warm – of course that he was a person that couldn't exactly be completely reliable but… he still could notice things, of course! And the girls didn't seem to have been overly affected by the heat. Gray was a different story, true, but there was something that wasn't adding up. It was a niggling sensation at the back of his mind…

It was true that Gray didn't react all too well to very warm temperatures but the weather here wasn't all that warm. It was mild. And, okay, the sun might be a bit too much but Gray had way more endurance to adverse weather than this.

No. The fire mage knew that something was escaping him. But what?

And what had made Gray behave like that in the morning? Gray preferred to sleep. He wasn't an early riser and, even less, to go greet the sun. And in the sea? Nope.

But for now it wouldn't do to just be laying in the bed and worrying about something about which he couldn't do a thing.

His option, for the moment, was to sleep.

Closing his eyes, Natsu started falling into a doze, he wasn't yet asleep but sound and scent were enhanced.

The last thing he half-noticed was the growth of the noise of the waves and a slight tang of sea breeze.

* * *

><p><em>Hazy shadows moved in an ethereal dance, no sound came from them.<em>

_The mists borrowed a greyish colour to the whole world at the same time that it muted his senses. But it wasn't him, at the same time._

_The sound of the waves crashing against the shore increased as did the impression of wetness. His feet were on water._

_More, his feet were sinking into the shifting sand as the cold water crashed against the sand in a mess of white foam and dark grey sand, as the water created nonsensical and momentary patterns in the sand. The white fabric clung to his legs, uncomfortably._

_A high pitched voice._

_He looked up, the girl was by the tree line, crying for him._

_A hand that wasn't his own, as he didn't have such delicate or pale limbs or even that bracelet._

_His hand closed over nothing and an overwhelming sense of despair filled him._

_'__No, it can't be!' A female voice sounded in his head, the incredulity laced with a sense of loss becoming too much._

_A lancinating pain ran down his arm, making his whole body seize up as he started to fall forward. There was a caress on his cheek before darkness engulfed him fully._

* * *

><p>Gray woke up. At first the room was fuzzy but he blinked his eyes and ran a hand through them to be rid of the grit that had formed in them. With a yawn, he stretched on the bed and turned his head to the side. Natsu was awake and looking at the white ceiling.<p>

"Hey." He croaked slightly.

The other seemed to snap out of whichever trance had him in and he looked at Gray with bleary eyes.

"Ah, you're awake." Natsu mumbled as he shook his head and sat on the bed.

"Looks like _you're_ the one that was sleeping." Gray countered.

"Nah, not sleep. I was thinking. But it seems that this nap was good for you, huh?" The fire mage got up and sat on the other's bed, bending one leg and looking expectantly to his friend.

"It looks like it." The ice mage yawned again and ran a hand through his hair, he sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard, crossing his legs. "And the air is also more breathable. What the hell happened?"

"Dunno." The dragonslayer shrugged. "It looks like sleeping was the solution to your grumpiness. And so," he crossed his arms, "do you feel like explaining what happened this morning?"

The ice mage paused, a stricken look crossing his features.

"I don't know why you all just keep insisting on that matter. I don't know." His temper started flaring. "So just… get off my back. I'm tired of you pestering me about something that didn't… that doesn't have an explanation. I don't have a clue. And that's that."

"Fine." Natsu paused and looked down at his hands. "Ah." He perked up, rummaging through his pocket. "This was the thing I told you about. The bracelet." It dangled from his fingers and the fire mage saw the other straightening up. "What?"

"Nothing… I…" Gray mumbled with a confused expression. "It's just… I think I've seen that bracelet somewhere." He rubbed at his forehead and let his head fall back against the wooden headboard with a thud.

"Where?" Natsu asked, curious.

"I'm not sure. But, here," he plucked the earring from his pocket and placed it on the free space between their legs, "you can check it. I just wonder why the fuck did that woman give it to me." He frowned.

"Now that makes two of us. What's the meaning of these things? Did they belong to someone here? Were they a treasure of something?" Natsu scooted forwards and levelled his gaze with Gray's.

"Ah, don't ask me. And don't start with those harebrained ideas of yours." Gray had raised his hand in a dismissive motion.

"Hey, you're the frozen brain one…" Natsu countered.

"At least, it's better than being a flame boy with a lack of table manners. You eat like a pig. I'm surprised we weren't thrown out of that place because of you."

"That's because I'm that good." Natsu said, smugly. "And because our booth was hidden enough."

"At least you admit it." Gray smirked.

The fire mage rolled his eyes and, tilting his head downwards muttered exasperatedly.

"Why did I promise Erza not to react…"

"Oh? You did, did you?" The ice mage's smirk grew even more malicious. He leaned forward and his right hand reached, slowly, behind him. And then, '_whack_', a pillow smacked in Natsu's face.

The Salamander started spluttering and didn't take but an instant to arm himself.

"You may have a point with these things." Natsu grinned dangerously. "I can still kick your ass but without as much damage."

"Wanna bet?" Gray was making a sign for Natsu to come closer with his left hand.

It was a challenge that neither mage could resist.

* * *

><p>After a fierce battle from both sides that ended with the bedroom in a huge mess but with only minor damage and none because they had used their magic – Erza would have no reason to crucify them – both mages were sitting on the floor, one on each side of the bed. They were both breathing hard and smiling, their hands still clutching the poor pillows, in all their deformed glory. A second round was about to start but an instant shine caught Gray's eyesight and he was thrown out of that '<em>zone<em>' where his rivalry with the fire mage always put him.

"Wait a second. Where are the things?"

The fire mage gasped and threw his pillow against the opposite wall, making it fall at the feet of his bed, and rushed to the other bed, pushing back the covers which were a complete mess. With one harder pull the small items were flying and then, they fell to the floor.

"You moron! How is that better?" Gray yelled.

"Just look for the things. The girls will skin us alive if the things disappear." An already kneeling Natsu grumbled.

Gray didn't take long to find the golden earring but Natsu seemed to be having a little bit more trouble with his item. The ice mage decided to look too and he saw it, the bracelet seemed to be stuck between two of the floorboards.

He stretched out under the bed to grab it but apparently Natsu had also seen it and their hands ended up clashing and Gray's hand snapped back, as if he had been burned.

The dark haired youth crawled back from under the bed to sit on it and stare at his hand, confused.

Natsu, who was still sitting on the floor, put his arm on the bed, bracelet held tight between his fingers and he looked at Gray questioningly.

The ice mage shook his head and looked back at his hand before getting a grip and turning to the fire mage.

"I think that we better go out now?"

Natsu was staring at him, appraisingly, and nodded.

"Okay, if you feel like it. Let's go." He got up and patted his pants, returning the bracelet to its pocket before turning at Gray, his happy-go-lucky, carefree glutton way nowhere in sight. "Oh, and Gray, don't forget that we're a team and we're here for each other. You going somewhere with a half-baked plan and without saying anything to anyone won't do it. It hasn't before," he paused to make his words weigh more as he made sure that Gray remembered, "and it won't now. Don't forget that you're from Fairy Tail." And with that the dragonslayer turned on his heel and headed to the door.

Gray stood still, surprised with Natsu's vehemence in both posture and words. It had been highly unexpected. As the door squeaked open and Natsu left the room, Gray shook his head as he, following the other's lead also placed the item in his pocket and smiled.

He didn't know why the others were so worried. He wasn't going anywhere.

And Gray knew that he _was_ from Fairy Tail.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Yaaattaaaaa! A new chapter!

Anyone tired yet? xD

As usual, this chapter isn't betaed and is dedicated to my dearest friend Citrus Sunscreen. *hugs*

Anyway, nothing much happened. I don't know how this occurred, my ideas would take this chapter one way but it seems like the boys had other ideas and it seems like this is what we got. They're mean! Seriously, nothing overly much happened *coughs* but I hope it was enjoyable all the same. Crossing my fingers and hoping that these guys weren't too out of their normal ways… oh well…

I had planned to post this earlier but today was rather weird. In the afternoon I had set everything to write – heck, I even had tea prepared and at hand! – but, instead of writing… I got to ride on an ambulance and spent most of the afternoon on the hospital as one of my relatives had taken a fall. It was a different experience to be writing in the hospital waiting room… Not to repeat because the chairs are terribly uncomfortable. But I got near 1k written there and that's an achievement, in my opinion.

Haha, sorry about all the babble. Time to go sleep.

So, I'll see you tomorrow for something more (still not sure if I'll be writing the boys or the girls…) to the story.

As usual, feedback is awesome.


	6. Six

Lucy and Erza had just gotten to the archive room. It was still as cramped as Lucy remembered and she managed to take them to the niche from before. The chairs were still pushed back, as they had left them. Lucy left Erza as the red head sat down and opened her book and she went to find the books she had been reading.

She collected them all and paused, trying to understand how was it possible that she had been unable to hear the conversation between the woman and Gray, if such a thing had happened.

'But it has got to have happened.' She thought, clutching the books closer. 'Gray had that earring and he's not the sort to make up something like that…'

She was still trying to puzzle this when she got back to the base.

The blonde found that Erza was deep into her book, a small frown darkening her expression.

Lucy dropped down the books on the table and took her seat.

"So, anything interesting?" she asked.

The other mage tapped her lips with her index finger.

"I hadn't realized that this was so… old…"

* * *

><p><em>The region of the now called town of Shelagris has been inhabited since immemorial times.<em>

_At first it was the plenty of both game and fish and aquifer resources that made it a place of high inhabitation value, the ores found later only helped to increase the value of the region._

_The surrounding forest has also been used as a means of protection at the same time that make the region be of some difficult access._

_The town has flourished and always been of interest for its richness in culture and lore. For many things are said to have happened in this small corner of the country. Such as the appearance of a strange island…_

_The History of Shelagris, by Och of Catlenn_

#

_The bones are deep_

_The bones were carved_

_From the forest we sprouted, towards the ocean_

_The mists our only friend_

_Disappearance the only destiny_

_Why did we have to be here?_

_Traditional song, unknown author_

#

_Hitting both shores in one same motion_

_Oh, why have you stole so much from us?_

_The days darken and the sun is swallowed_

_But the only constant is the darkness_

_Only punctuated by white foamy crusts_

_That crumble and disappear_

_The same way as we_

_But the blue will always persevere_

_The currents dancing with the strength_

_O God of the sea_

_Let the balance be kept_

_Ode to the Sea, by Lyniew of Breckil_

#

_It has been written, long time ago, that there was a portal somewhere in the town of Shelagris._

_There are accounts of it being true but, unfortunately nothing has been confirmed as of yet._

_It is, however, unthinkable to say that this is not a place connected to magic. No, it has been blessed with currants of different kinds of magic, making it a prolific region for people blessed with such arts._

_Thankfully those who follow the dark arts are in a lower number, however the fact of the land creating such powerful people has already caused a lot of strife among the people._

_There is memory of one day called 'Bloody' but it has been, by this time, been pushed to the back of people's memories for it brings too much pain for those who had connection to the people involved to remember. Needless to say, most of the town has been affected._

_One family especially._

_Following the Roots of the Magic; Shelagris version, compiled by Professor Mertel Yarn, of the University of Weyt_

#

_Play, play,_

_The ball rolls away,_

_To the sea it falls,_

_It's taken away._

_She follows it,_

_Isn't seen again,_

_The ashes blow,_

_The red spreads,_

_Where does, all this lead?_

_One goes to the water, where the droplets fall,_

_Two goes to the green, the hidden animal,_

_Three isn't seen or heard, run and hide when they call,_

_Four stands on the stone, where everything's seen in the crystal ball. _

_Traditional, children's rhyme from the town of Shelagris_

#

_There has never been such misfortune in this town as the one that has struck us in the past months._

_No, I lie, I've once read that things were bad in the time of the grand darkness. Sadly, at that time, the advancements in health and infrastructure were yet to happen._

_However, I fail to remember from the reports if the sea had turned against the town – the sea that we worship – at the same time that a barrage of bad luck is blown from the forest at our backs by the poisoned winds that come from the green foliage. But we've always been careful not to enrage the green goddess._

_It's bad._

_The people are feeling surrounded, claustrophobic. It's as if the town were in the middle of a war. And we have no idea about who's battling and who's winning._

_There is reason to the constant fear. Those who tried to escape have disappeared and, there are serious doubts if they were able to keep their lives._

_It's like a curse._

_A curse has been cast on our town and there is no hope for breaking it._

_What can we do?_

_Every wave that comes ashore makes a noise and that noise is like the beating of a drum, indicating our impending doom._

_I really don't know what's going to happen._

_Diary, by Yulih Margretti_

* * *

><p>Lucy sat back with a sigh, her head was starting to hurt a bit. She let out a tired exhale before placing the open book down and covered her eyes with her forearm.<p>

"It's too much." She muttered.

The noise seemed to wake Erza, making her look up from her book – she had started to help making a dent in the pile the blonde mage had brought.

"What?" she said distractedly.

Lucy let her arm fall back to her side and sat up, placing both elbows on the table and leaning forward towards it.

"This is too much. Just look at the number of books we still have to go through." She pointed at the pile before pushing the book in front of her to the side so that she could rest her cheek on the cool tabletop.

"You're right. I mean, I was starting to not see straight. It's just too much information and there are no certainties…" the red head copied her friend's position but, after a few moments, she placed her arms and have them cushion her head.

"Ugh, don't remind me. We don't know if these things are – or how – they're true."

"To be true, I'm getting tired of books." Erza said, closing her eyes.

"I feel loathe to say this but, I'm getting a bit tired of books myself." Lucy lifted her head and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "But don't say I said that anyone."

"Hahaha," Erza let out a tired laugh and shook her head slightly. "I think you have all the reasons not to want to see a book in front of you for a while. And I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Seriously, if feels like looking for a needle in a haystack." Lucy pouted. "No, I lie. If we were looking for a needle in a haystack we could have a strike of luck and sit on it. Here, it's hopeless."

"At least you're keeping some of your humour…" Erza sat up and stretched.

"Ah, ah. Not funny." Lucy also sat up. "But what about that book the shopkeeper gave you? Did it have anything interesting?"

"No, I don't think so. It's just legends and stories that…" The red head shrugged.

"Every legend is rooted in some truth." Lucy stated wisely. "The problem is finding what that truth is, or was…"

"Okay, then. Want to see if we have the basics?"

"Sure, let's recap." The blonde ran a hand through the book that in the spine said "_The History of Shelagris"_, chewing on her bottom lip as she sorted through her ideas. "So, the occupation of this place is old. Really old."

"It had idea conditions to hold a small people. And so people started flocking towards this place." Erza bit back a yawn. "They were lucky, the place always gave them everything they needed. They associated that to gods. And people seem to be extremely devout to such entities."

"Right. There have also been a lot of mages. Since forgotten times, they've helped the town. Of course that there were also some dark mages who did all they could to instil chaos."

"That's something that hasn't changed all that much in all this time, it would seem…"

Both mages shared a yellow smile. And then returned to the books.

"Apparently there have been two times where a lot of troubles hit the town." Lucy added, frowning.

"Yes, but can you say something concrete about the darkness or the red or whatever people call those things?" Erza asked, her left hand raising in an arc while her chin rested on the other.

Lucy let out her breath, seeming to deflate.

"No, I don't. But there has to be something…"

"Yes, I'm sure that there is but right now, I can't think of anything. My head is throbbing." The red head massaged her temples. "And we haven't found anything much. I haven't read anything about the island."

"Oh, I think I saw something…" Lucy pushed some books, stopping when her search was fruitless. "I think that in that book they were saying that there's a portal here in this town."

"I think I've read that, paraphrased somewhere." Erza nodded.

"Well, yes. But that book, it was posing all that kind of questions and proposing some theories, and it said that the island had appeared here as a consequence of the usage of that portal…?" The blonde finished unsurely. "I… don't know for sure if it was this they said. But it was just a theory, I think and…" she shrugged.

"Well, that _is_ something." Erza gave an encouraging smile.

"Yes, but in that case it might be dangerous to follow the plan and go there, right?"

"Probably…" The red head mused, aloud.

"And let's not forget the huge connection people from this town have always had towards the sea. They think that the waters have some healing powers, and are able to give some… abilities… I kind of think that this part is just superstition that probably started because of the feeling of gratitude people felt? I don't know."

"Thank line of thinking might make some sense. Then again, we're outsiders. We don't see or have the same beliefs as this people." Erza paused, tilting her head to the side and allowing her fingers to tap a little tune against the wooden tabletop. "And, don't you get the impression of being somewhere else?" Lucy's furrowing brows showed how the blonde hadn't understood. "I mean, there's something here that feels different. And it might be affecting us, without letting us know."

"What? Something's keeping us prisoners here?"

"No. Just… there's something strange here."

"Oh!" Lucy seemed to have followed her line of thinking. "And that was the reason why Gray was behaving all weird?"

"I can't say anything. But that there is something strange here, there _is_. We need to be careful."

The blonde mage nodded gravely.

"Yes. That's what we'll have to do. But for now, it might be a better idea to leave." Lucy pushed back her chair, making a horrible scraping noise echo through the empty room. She grimaced. "Oops."

"Come on." Erza stood up with much less aplomb, her eyes falling on a clock encased on a wall. "Wait. It's that time already?"

"Time?" Lucy looked to her sides and her eyes widened when she took in the hours. "I can't believe it's this late already! We better go."

They scrambled to place the books in their rightful places before heading out, Erza taking the book securely under her arm.

"There's no telling the chaos the boys might have caused…" Erza said as he stride grew.

"Maybe it wasn't bad. They can be left unsupervised sometimes, you know?"

"No, I don't."

"You're right…" Lucy said with a heavy sigh before walking faster to match the strides of her friend.

* * *

><p><em>When the grey beckons<em>

_Someone hears_

_The call_

_It continues without fail_

_Becoming more and more enticing_

_The wisps of mist becoming vaporous tendrils_

_They will catch you_

_They will pull you_

_Inside_

_Into the darkness_

_The storm comes_

_The bond breaks_

_Tears are wept_

_But they are taken_

_Never to return_

_To become lost_

_In the misty greys_

_Traditional poem, unknown author_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** New chapter! Now it was the girls' turn! :D

And it seems like I was inspired (or not) and felt like adding more pieces to the puzzle. Yeah, I know that the sayings and songs and stuff suck. Sorry about that… ^^'

But I had some fun. Always felt like doing this. :3

Hope this chapter wasn't all that boring. Tomorrow we'll have yet another step in this story. And the boys shall return – or, most likely, the team. Yeah!

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who's tagging along. Many apologies for the typos and all the strange sentences. Citrus, this is still for you! :3

Ugh, portable internet sucks! T^T

Finally, the feedback gives me fuel. xD


	7. Seven

The southern area of the town wasn't anything they hadn't see yet. Houses, markets, businesses and a constant bustle and crowd seemed to be a thing in this town – not that that was strange, of course.

Natsu and Gray were walking down a street at which end they could see the shimmer of the sea.

'Hm, isn't that odd?' Natsu thought distractedly.

The overcast sky didn't allow for the sun to filter in, just allowing a handful of beams to pierce through the dark clouds every now and then. It wasn't exactly enough to make the sea reflect in that way.

'Still… better not to go there.' The fire mage concluded as he looked to his right, where a street filled with colours seemed to be welcoming them. The colours almost as much as the delicious scent of food. He stopped. But, by the corner of his eye, he saw that Gray continued walking.

"Hey! Gray. Hold on a second." The other stopped and turned to look enquiringly at him. "I think we might have a better luck if we go this way."

"Do you mean that or are you just following your nose and stomach?" Gray asked, arching his eyebrow.

"What? I would never-" the dragonslayer closed his mouth at seeing the other's disbelieving look. "Alright, fine. It wouldn't be bad if we ate something, you know?"

Gray let out an expletive under his breath as he ran a hand down his face.

"Seriously, it's no wonder that you're always broke, you dumbass, with the way you eat!"

"Hey! I resent that." Natsu countered as he stepped towards Gray and grabbed his arm, starting to pull him in the direction of the street. "Besides, I'll let you know that I also cook a little. It's not going out to eat every day."

"You wouldn't need to go out, you know? You spend all your days at the guild, eating included…"

Natsu glared before letting out an offended noise and giving a harder pull. "I still cook at home." And then in an almost inaudible voice he added, "even if the meat tends to get a bit on the charred side of things…"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Shut up." Was the quick rebuke.

The dark haired mage just rolled his eyes at his friend's antics and let himself be led.

The street was colourful indeed. Banners in garish colours covered the walls, sunblinds were still in place from the early afternoon's sun, to protect the goods. Fragrant flowers hung in the window sills and door frames, spices were being mixed into the right quantities as they were being sold, the food was nowhere to be see for the moment but the scent still permeated the area and the less pleasant odours and musk from the bodies in a confined space were an undertone that Natsu only picked as they were right in the middle of the street.

It was starting to get a little too much for his sensitive sense of smell and the fire mage started twitching his nose and rubbing at it in an attempt to ease the discomfort for long enough to find the food – he was starting to want to get the hell out of there.

#

As Gray followed Natsu to the street that supposedly held food, he felt strange.

Before his eyes the colour seemed to be muted somewhat. It didn't completely disappear but the garish colours of the fabrics that served as banners started to pale a little. For one moment it seemed like the colours were, indeed, bleeding to the ground where they mixed and became black.

Gray followed Natsu – heck, the fire mage was still holding pretty solidly against his forearm – but he had the clear impression that the world was different. There were flowers everywhere, too, which would probably mean a good smell. Alas, nothing reached Gray.

It was with a start that he noticed that the only certainty he had, at the moment, in this muted world, was of the warm grasp of Natsu's hand. It was a small comfort.

Not that he would tell that to the fire mage. Ever.

Fastening his pace, Gray got to walk at the same level of the fire mage and, strangely, something in the sense of muteness decreased a little. Just a touch.

With a tiny exhale Gray started to look for the food stall that had put them in this predicament to start with.

Besides, he could do with some food…

#

Natsu's sudden burst of franticness seemed to ease slightly as Gray got to the same level as him. As much as Natsu had no qualms in jumping headfirst into things, at times it did feel good to know that someone had his back. Not that he was going to tell Gray but his presence made the overwhelming surroundings tone down a little and be manageable.

They continued walking until.

"Ah! There it is!" Natsu cried joyously, his stomach growling in agreement.

"Let's go, then."

They went to the stall and each left with one small loaf filled with delicious food.

There was a connection to a square nearby and so the mages headed there where they sat and ate their food in silence.

Something had happened and it didn't overly add up.

* * *

><p>After aimlessly wandering through the streets the boys called it a day and crossed more than half of the town to get to the inn – they had gone nearly to the edge of the city, where the forest was starting to be seen.<p>

At one point Natsu thought he had seen the old lady from before but it was an illusion probably as when he looked back at it, the space was empty.

They got to the inn as the sun was setting but as they knocked on the girls' bedroom door and it remained closed and silent, they deemed that they hadn't returned yet.

They went to their bedroom and prepared to wait.

"These long periods of waiting without doing anything are such a bore." Natsu said out loud as he was laying on his bed.

"That's because you lack patience. And would merrily be creating havoc just to have anything to do. I don't want to think about what they might do to you, in that case." Gray replied as he was lying in his own bed, throwing and catching his pillow, with disinterest.

"Awww, you're worried about me?" Natsu rolled to the side and said in mock amazement.

"Yeah… no." Gray threw the pillow at Natsu. "But I don't want to think what they would do to me for _letting you_ do those things out of sheer boredom."

"Pfff, you take the fun out of everything." Natsu pouted as he sat up and fluffed the pillow, before throwing it at Gray. "Besides, I'm the one that's keeping an eye on you. Not the contrary."

"What?" Gray stood up with a jump. "Who the fuck said that I had to be looked after?"

"There was no need to say anything." Natsu said calmly.

Gray was about to yell his response but at that moment there was a knock on the door.

"Boys, are you there?"

"Yes." One of the voices said the word irately while the other said with the usual enthusiasm.

"Great, let's go have dinner." Erza said, her head poking from behind the sliver of door she had opened.

"Fine." Gray stomped towards the door while Natsu went after, at a calmer pace.

"What happened to him?" Erza asked when Natsu was turning to close the door of their room.

"I think he doesn't overly like the idea that we're keeping an eye on him."

"Why would you tell him such a thing?" Erza frowned.

"I didn't say anything." Natsu replied, with exasperation.

"Just… let's go, then."

* * *

><p>Dinner was a somewhat tense affair. Gray was eating but without saying a word, his body tense and clearly giving a "back off" vibe.<p>

The other three mages just shared looks and ate in silence. As the meal was reaching an end, Erza placed her silverware on the dish and cleaned her mouth to a napkin.

"Okay, guys. I had been talking to Lucy and we were thinking that tomorrow we should go to the island."

"The island?" Both boys perked up a little.

"Yes. We don't have much information yet but… some clues lead there. We have to check it out."

"But," Lucy interjected, "we'll have to be very careful, even the inhabitants don't go there and there's no telling what we'll find."

"Alright." Gray nodded, some spark back in his eyes.

"Cool." Natsu grinned and rubbed his hands before noticing the grease coating his fingers. He hurried to grab a napkin and clean them.

They left, not long after.

* * *

><p>"What do you think that we're going to find in the island tomorrow?" Lucy asked, as they were getting ready to sleep.<p>

"I don't know." The red head replied. "But first we're going to have enough difficulty with getting there. People from here don't like to go there and I wonder if we'll be able to find a boat that takes us there."

"Oh no. But we need to go there. The evidences point towards the island."

"Yes," Erza said as she sat on the bed. "But I really don't like going into this kind of situations blind. It annoys me."

"Hahaha, Erza, it wouldn't be you, not being cautious." Lucy was already lying under the covers.

"It's the best way to go. Although there are times when a person doesn't have time for that."

"And then you adopt Natsu's 'jump headfirst' kind of way." The blonde teased.

"Depends, if it's necessary…" With a click the light was turned off.

"But what about Gray? We only read general things about this place. And still don't have an explanation as to why that thing happened to him this morning."

"That's another thing that worries me. And the worse is that he acts as if he doesn't realize that something happened."

"But," Lucy interjected "isn't that just his way of being?"

"I would like to say _yes_ but… am afraid not."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it for now. Sleep well, Erza."

She got a sigh.

"Good night to you too, Lucy."

* * *

><p>"So. Do you feel ready for tomorrow?" Natsu asked as he sat on his bed, bedcovers thrown to the bottom of the bed.<p>

"Why wouldn't I?" Gray had pushed his covers back too and was laying on his back. "You make me sound like I'm an invalid."

"Those are your words, not mine." Natsu let himself fall back on the bed. "But if you start acting all weird I'll wack you in the head and bring you back here. You can't be trusted."

"And you're the _one_ saying that to _me_?" Gray turned his head to the side and let out a low growl.

"What do you mean, dumbass?" Natsu riposted, though there was no real fire in his words.

"I mean that you're the airhead that can't be trusted because he'll destroy half a town."

"You really like to bring that event, huh?" Natsu spat. "Well then, I'll tell you one thing. You start to act weird during the night, tossing and turning too much and I'll go to your bed and cling to you like a limpet!"

"No way! I don't want you in my bed. You hog all the covers and get even hotter. Unbearably hot." Gray lifted himself on one elbow. "If you do that, I'll kick you."

"Nothing I'm not used to already." The fire mage replied nonchalantly.

"What!?" Gray was wide-eyed.

"You tend to give kicks sometimes when you're asleep. Move too, almost as if you were doing a sequence of steps or something…"

"I don't believe you! I-I'm going to sleep." Gray turned around and pulled up the covers.

"Sleep well, dumbass."

"Sleep well, melted brain."

"You can bet that I'll be like a limpet." Natsu muttered before both fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And so the saga continues. Eeeehhhhh!

Nothing much happened in this chapter. But hopefully the next one will set some things in motion. Haha, kind of can't wait to see what's going to happen next. And I bet you either, huh? ;D

Okay, it's time for me to say "_au dodo_" for today. It was a long day and I have to prepare some stuff for tomorrow.

As per usual, no beta reading was done to this chapter and this is for you, Citrus. ^^

To all the readers, thank you so much for keeping up reading the story. The support means a lot.

Finally, feedback is always awesome!


	8. Eight

The sea was spread out in front of them in all its blue-grey majesty.

The sun was rising, a globe of fiery red enfolded by an ephemeral curtain of shimmery orange-pink.

Up ahead there was the island, still wrapped in mists that were, slowly with the sun's ascent, receding bit by bit. There were no clouds to be seen in the sky.

The boat was rocking quite a bit despite the sea's calmness, for the moment. It powered forward towards the island, despite the captain's grumblings.

The air was drenched with the sea tang and the humidity hung heavily over them.

The four mages were sitting in the small boat, back to back, with enabled them to have different views on the route. At the moment, Lucy and Natsu were looking back to the shore, seeing the sun hit and light the buildings of the town – if they strained their sight, they might be able to see the movement in the docks. Well, Lucy would, as Natsu was passed out on her side, having already made two trips to throw up overboard… On the other side, Erza and Gray were being given the view of the island, the dark green of the vegetation and trees was still muted in the places the sun hadn't hit yet. It gave a strange vibe of being ethereal and unapproachable.

'But we're going to reach it.' Erza thought with vehemence. By the corner of her eye she looked at Gray. The ice mage was calm. In fact, it seemed like it was the old Gray that was back with them. That reassured her.

They were getting closer to the island, so much so that what looked like a somewhat rundown jetty was becoming more defined. The wooden boards seemingly unsteady.

"We're here," the old man said as they stopped by it. The boat rocking with the water as the anchor was thrown into the water with a splash. The mages exchanged looks and then, slowly, got up and made their way out of the boat and into the jetty. The wood creaked slightly under their weight.

They finished their last arrangements with the captain before hearing the boat start to gain some distance.

And that was it. They were in the island.

Time to find out the reason as to why so many mysteries surrounded it.

But first, they had to reach the shore. And hope that the wooden boards didn't break, throwing them into the cold water.

Of course that they had Natsu – and said dragonslayer was already perking out after the ordeal that the boat ride had been. Having a fire mage around did come in handy in such situations.

And so, the team started making their way to dry land. Cautiously.

_Don't._

Gray paused and looked around. But there was nothing, no-one in this place beside them. But the ice mage could swear that he had heard that word being breathed into his ear, the warning ringing clear in the tone.

However, he only got Lucy walking in on him, the stumbling making the wood groan dangerously.

"Gray! Why did you stop?" The blonde asked.

"Huh, sorry. I got a bit distracted." He replied distractedly.

"If you say so. But now let's hurry up and get out of this thing. It doesn't seem too steady for my taste." She said, patting him on his shoulder.

The two belated mages hurried to follow their friends, who were already on the rocky ground, looking at them, waiting.

"What took you so long?" Natsu asked impatiently. He was itching to start.

"Nothing much. Gray just stopped, all of a sudden" Lucy answered.

"Stop? What happened?" Erza asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It was nothing, really. I just got distracted by something. I don't even know what it was now." He shrugged.

"Hmm…" Erza didn't seem convinced.

"Anyway, are we going to go somewhere or just stay here and wait for the boat to return? Because in that case, it's a wasted day. And not helping." Gray added, crankily.

"Okay, okay. Let's go." The red head finally said, though she was still looking suspicious.

"Hell yeah!" Natsu yelled, punching the air with enthusiasm.

The team set out along the shoreline towards the place where something of interest might be, or so as they had been told.

The landscape wasn't anything much, so far. The pale sand underfoot spread out, on their right it would be engulfed by the blue sea and on their left it was broken by a line of a darker colour before the green of the vegetation and trees took over.

Lucy wondered why were they trudging through the sand, instead of walking on the darker path, what looked to be stone. She asked so to the group at large.

"We don't know what might reside in the forest." Was Erza's concise reply.

"Pity, it would be easier to walk over there…" Lucy said in a sad tone.

"Don't worry, we shouldn't be in the beach for long." Gray said.

"What makes you say that?" the blonde mage asked.

"Because of that." Gray pointed out to what looked like a tower.

* * *

><p>And a tower it was. It was rundown and was the last end of a wall that was warding what looked like a housing area. There was a large house – a mansion, would perhaps be a more suitable designation – and a bunch of smaller houses that the team could only wonder about their use and there was also a small temple. The light stone in which all the buildings had been made seemed to not have endured well the passing of the time. It was cracked – sometimes in a pattern that seemed to have been created by something being thrown against it – and from most of the fissures greenery was escaping. Nature seemed to have decided to take over, back again from the clutches of men, as it had cracked the slabs that created the courtyard and trees had sprouted between them at the same time that vines covered the façades of the buildings.<p>

"So… this was probably where they lived?" Natsu threw into the air.

"It sure looks so." Erza nodded. "Now, the question is _who_."

"Let's go explore! There might be something out there that gives us any information." Natsu was starting to run towards the house.

"You're such a moron." Gray rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that we should just go inside this house – which has been abandoned for who-knows-how-long – and barge in?" The ice mage kicked a small pebble.

"Hey, no name-calling." Lucy tried to appease the too volatile tempers. "Why don't we just start by exploring the outside? Maybe go to one of these smaller houses."

"Yes, might be for the best." Erza agreed.

The team fanned out on the expanse of the courtyard – keeping an eye on each other for the whole time – and they found things that allowed them to imagine some semblance of the motions of the things that had happened while the house was populated.

'This used to be a garden.' Gray mused as he walked down a grassy path, noticing how this square of land had been distributed. There were also trees, dried ones with their skeletal fingers pointing to the sky. A fountain bereft of water separated the once flowerbeds from a leisure area, comprised with benches and tables.

* * *

><p><em>The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky. Just a handful of clouds sprinkled some white against the blue.<em>

_Seagulls were flying on the sky, cawing in their noticeable pattern._

_The wind made the leaves from the trees nearby rustle and the chirrups coming from the forest were brought closer. Nearer was the fountain, the watery noises muffling the voices of the men that worked on the other side of the house._

_It was a fun cacophony to which the faraway noise of the waves added._

_The voices of the grownups came floating through the open window._

_The little blonde girl was sitting in one of the benches, she was running her fingers down the patterns of the padded seat. It was flowery, with a number of bright colours encased inside the thick black lines. Embroidered in silver, amidst all of that was what looked like a vine, twisting and turning and creating a multitude of paths._

_After a while, the girl got tired and she got up. She headed towards the fountain where she marvelled at the flow of the water, the shimmer the sun lent it made it look like there were tiny diamonds falling and splashing her. She plunged her hand in the basin and the coolness that enveloped her limb was quite welcomed. She giggled before taking her hand from the water in a wide arc, looking at the dance of the water droplets before they fell to the ground._

_She stepped away from the fountain, dancing to a tune that only she could hear, humming as she turned and jumped, hands flowing around her torso, lifting towards the sky, dropping to the ground and she paused by the flowerbeds. That was her favourite part of the house._

_To see the different sections, some so colourful with all the different flowers while others were of a more sober green given the medicinal and aromatic herbs planted therein._

_The gardener wasn't there but it didn't matter. She just wanted to walk in the middle of the flowers before she had to go home._

_A cloud covered the sun and she looked up, frowning._

The weather was so nice just now…

* * *

><p>Gray was suddenly snapped from his contemplation of the once garden.<p>

It wasn't a chill, per se, that ran down his spine but, something made him look around.

At first glance everything was the same, rundown, dusty, cracked by the force of nature. But Gray's gaze was attracted to the building and he thought he saw a shadow in one of the windows. The ice mage frowned at himself.

'It can't be. This place is abandoned. Right?' he thought before straining his eyesight to try to get some more definition of the shadow. Unfortunately he didn't have much luck but, he was sure that he had seen someone at the window of one of the first floor rooms.

The ice mage looked around and, seeing Lucy heading towards him, he went to meet her.

"Hey. Did you notice if there were any signs of someone living here?" he asked.

"Hm? Living here as in, recently?" she wondered, in a slightly puzzled tone. "No. From what I was able to see, this place has been abandoned a while ago and left that way."

"I see…" the ice mage looked at the ground with a pensive look. "I think that we'll have to go inside the house to check if everything adds up."

"Add up?" the blonde repeated. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Nothing, nothing. It was just an impression." Gray dismissed the concern in her tone.

"Gray." Lucy said warningly. "Don't think about hiding stuff from us. I swear I'll… I'll… I don't even know what I'll do to you yet. But you can bet that I'll call for help of the others."

"Whoa! Calm down. I'm not hiding anything. I'll tell you when we gather round again. Sheesh." The ice mage let out an exasperated noise.

"Hey, I'm not the one to blame. But we've talked about this already." Lucy crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go see if there's something more."

"Okay. It's a pity that this is looking so unkept. This place looks very pretty." Lucy muttered as she took a look around this side of the courtyard.

"Yeah, I can imagine…" Gray replied noncommittally.

* * *

><p>Natsu had decided to explore the area around the temple. And one or two of the – what he thought might have been – storage houses.<p>

The scents were the same as the first he had taken in. The overall scent of sea water, the green coming from the vegetation all around, some earthiness and then dust. Lots and lots of dust.

It made him want to sneeze, slightly.

Thankfully he got used to it and that urge went away. Still, it was something that prevailed in his surroundings.

The fire mage had noticed that he and Erza had tackled the right-side on the area surrounding the mansion while Gray and Lucy the left one.

'Good, at least no-one is left alone while we lose the overall visual contact.' The fire mage thought as he headed towards the temple.

He turned and looked at Erza.

"Erza. Do you want to go in there?" he pointed to the temple's entrance. The wood seemed to be rotten in some places.

"I think the question is more if _you_ want to go in there…" the other mage drawled.

"Hehe, you got me." Natsu laughed sheepishly. "So, can we go?"

"You're incorrigible." The red head grinned. "Sure, let's go. Let's just hope there are no traps or anything of the sort. It feels too calm for my taste, so far."

"I know what you mean. There's something here that I'm not liking." The other mage said before grinning. "But for now…" he said while he kicked down the door. "I think we can look around."

The temple was pretty simple inside. In the middle there were benches, set in a row, in the front there was a large painting, with small sculptures placed in niches on the walls. The sides had what looked like some coves that were hidden by flimsy fabric that had once been curtains. Light filtered from square windows that were high in the walls, close to the ceiling.

"That's it?" Natsu asked out loud as he entered the temple. He didn't pay much attention to the details in the paintings or what resided under the curtains. "Bother."

"Come on. What were you expecting to find?" Erza asked with a small smile.

"I dunno. Not this?" he added while his hand encompassed the room.

Erza snorted and shook her head. And then she looked towards the door, just a few steps behind her.

"I think the others are calling us." She said as she tilted her head to the side, to listen better.

"Fine, let's go then. Maybe they've found something more interesting." Natsu was back to his high energy.

They met with the others roughly in front of the mansion's main doors.

"What did you find?" Natsu asked, unbidden.

"Nothing much. A garden and what looked like a leisure area." Said Gray.

"We went to check the temple but there wasn't anything much in there, I think." Natsu reported.

"Hm?" Lucy looked at them enquiringly.

"What Natsu meant was that we didn't explore the temple, per se. We just got in there and in no time you were calling us."

"So that's for later, then."

"Sure." Gray agreed. "But for now I think that we should enter the mansion."

"Already? Okay…" Erza in an unconvinced tone. "Why do you say that?"

"It's just an impression but…" Gray shuffled slightly on his feet. "… I think I saw someone inside."

"What?" the three mages said at the same time.

"I'm not sure about it, okay? I said I _think_ I saw someone. Not sure of anything."

"Okay. So, we're going inside but let's proceed with caution, okay?" Erza waited until the others nodded in confirmation. "Very well. Let's go, then."

The team headed towards the doors.

* * *

><p><em>No, please. Don't come!<em>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm so sorry for the lack of update yesterday. I kind of slacked off and the only time I managed to get to the story was past midnight. And I wasn't too happy with what little I wrote. *sighs*

And then today (huh, my Monday), I planned to write two chapters but this one was giving me such trouble that it was just impossible to go the way I planned to. Seriously, it was easier to get rid of my wisdom teeth than working this chapter. But then, I found a way.

Heh, I can't plan things because those things never come the way I want them to.

Anyway, they're already on the island and more stuff's going to happen and… let's see what happens tomorrow. ^^

Here follows the usual disclaimer where I say that this wasn't betaed and that it is dedicated to my dearest Citrus Sunscreen.

Thank you all so much for reading.

Feedback is always awesome. I do like to hear from you.


	9. Nine

The doors were huge, in old wood that seemed to have easily withstood the passing of the time and alterations of the climate. Of course that despite everything, tiny cracks appeared here and there, the faded polish still clung stubbornly to the corners and the delicate reliefs that decorated its centre. The doorknob still shone, if more mutely, when the sun hit.

The team exchanged glances and it was Natsu who forced the door open, with a nice shove with his shoulder.

The wood creaked and groaned, the hinges hissed but complied and so the doors were open.

Inside it was, as expected, dusty. The huge entranceway was plunged in a twilight of its own, knives of light entering the space in between where the grey light danced.

Slowly, their eyes adjusted to the darkness and the team was able to discern how massive the space they were in was.

It was a large square and in front of the door there was a large staircase that after the first landing split into two, one going to the right while the other to the left. The first floor was, as far as they could see, delimited by an ornate handrail – the light danced in strange ways after passing through it. On the ground floor, to their right was, first, a corridor and then a wall with what looked like doors to, supposedly, other parts of the house. The left side had two intricate corridors and more doors. The walls were filled with paintings – which were in advanced state of decomposition, in some cases it was already impossible to see what had been in the painting – along with statues placed in marble-looking side tables.

The dust was immense, coating every surface with a thick layer and even the carpeted floor showed it.

The team walked slowly deeper into the entranceway, noting how they were leaving traces behind – their footprints were easily noticeable, darker against the greyed green that formed the carpet.

An eerie feeling was oozing from the own house, it seemed. It dripped down the walls, muddled the ground and even the shapes created by the light that came from upstairs seemed to be adding to it.

It made the mages' skin craw, without a fail.

All of them could feel _something_, to a degree.

Yes. There was something there and it wasn't overly happy with them being there.

* * *

><p>Natsu scrunched up his face as the completeness of the dust <em>hit<em> him. Because it did feel like Natsu had been punched in the face. It wasn't only the dust but the underlying scent of decay that made him gasp.

Sure, he had been in worse situations before, nose-wise, but in this place there was just something that had his sense of smell putting him on red alert.

This wasn't a normal house.

It was _cold_.

And not in a natural way.

Natsu wasn't able to explain but he hoped they would hurry out of the house in no time.

* * *

><p>Lucy shifted uneasily.<p>

This house used to belong to very wealthy people, she noticed easily. But it had been left abandoned for quite a while. However, there was something strange in the air.

There was some malevolence in the air. It made Lucy itch to pick her keys and…

To some degree she wanted to just destroy the whole place.

Destroy it in such a way that nothing was left.

She knew that it wasn't her usual way of thinking but, deep inside, she knew that they needed to leave as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>Erza looked around, blinking.<p>

She analysed the area and, at first glance, it seemed to be secure.

But the red head knew that looks were deceiving, more often than not.

And so she was aware that they ought to proceed with caution. There was no way to know if something unpleasant might be thrown at them.

There was no information. Everything was a blank concerning this whole damned mission.

And now this house…

It wasn't good news to them. Of that Erza was sure.

She had this gut feeling that something bad was about to happen.

And she had learned to trust her instincts. They'd saved her more than once already.

Still, they couldn't not explore. It was very necessary for their mission.

If only she weren't feeling so choked up. A rope from the gallows tightening around her neck.

For their safety, they better be quick to leave this place.

* * *

><p>Gray was feeling as if he were, ironically, frozen.<p>

This house was setting him on edge. No, more than that. His own body seemed to be revolting in regards to be occupying such a space. It was an unusual feeling, he had to say.

But, at the same time, something was telling him to go inside.

It was a strange feeling of being torn in two opposite directions. And it confused Gray.

Even the _air_ of the house – and they were on the entranceway – was revolting to him. The further they got into the house the worse it felt.

And Gray had the feeling of trudging through overly dense mud – or the compound Natsu had once attempted to call oatmeal. Seriously, the fire mage shouldn't be allowed near a kitchen in… ever.

That thought at his friend's expenses managed to make the ice mage's lips tilt upwards, but it was a brief thing. The overall oppressing feel of the room was pressing down on him. Even the air had become stifling – no, not only that, it seemed as if the dust particles had changed state and so were in a state between solid and liquid, making the end result become much denser.

And it wasn't only that. Gray's hair was standing on end. That was a rather uncommon thing to happen to an ice mage. But that underlying tension, the overpowering scent of dust in the air, the siren's call to someplace he couldn't locate.

Gray wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and this house.

He had a feeling that it was going to be for the best for him if he did…

* * *

><p>Together, they explored the house, as quick and thorough as possible.<p>

They found that to the left, through the two corridors, they would access the kitchen and what looked like a cloakroom. The servants' quarters and heating room were after the kitchen. The doors that were to the corridors' right took them to a waiting room, a smoke room and a small restroom. To the right the corridor lead to a series of work rooms that were in disarray. Papers and books strewn through the floor and the bookshelves that lined the walls had, in some cases, been thrown to the floor. Several half-made gadgets had been thrown into boxes that were lined against the wall in one of the rooms.

The other doors of the entranceway led to one massive dining room and a small office.

And that was everything for the ground floor.

It was time to explore the first floor.

They started climbing the stairs, cautiously. The silence was very oppressive.

When they reached the landing, the team glanced up at the painting that stood in the wall that the two sets of stairs framed.

It was a portrait of the family that had lastly owned the mansion. The father and mother were sitting in golden armchairs, stern expressions, and behind them a boy and a girl were standing, also looking grave. The clothing looked expensive and the mother and daughter had expensive jewellery adorning them.

Gray squinted his eyes as he looked at the girl. Her black, long hair and solemn eyes had something familiar… but when he noticed her hand, poised on the back of her mother's chair, Gray's eyes widened. For there, in the thin wrist, was a certain bracelet he had already seen from quite close.

'It… it can't be!' The ice mage tried to deny what he was seeing.

At that moment Natsu, who had already started walking to the right set of stairs started talking.

"Hey, guys! I think we missed one room on the ground floor." He was signalling at the others to approach but then there was a hiss that quickly grew in intensity and into an ear-shattering screech and the door of the room Natsu had pointed out was thrown open, as if there was a gale indoors. All the other doors blasted open too.

The four unsuspecting mages were caught unawares and before they knew it, strong winds were picking them up and throwing them out the door.

* * *

><p>Erza landed on her backside. It was very uncomfortable, to fall on the hard slabs of stone from the mansion's yard. It hurt, quite a bit.<p>

But the mage pushed away her discomfort. The doors of the mansion were still open to an inscrutable darkness inside.

With a gulp – that she thanked no-one else saw because it was so out of character – Erza got up, thanking whoever existed that she was on the edge of the large stone yard and she started retreating, towards the jetty.

Yes, retreat was the best option for the moment.

Erza looked up and saw the darkening sky. The weather was really going to change.

She better hurry.

* * *

><p>Lucy found herself on the beach, near the place they had disembarked earlier that day.<p>

'What the…? How did I get here?' she wondered, still quite stunned at the change of scenery.

She was sitting on the sand and tried to stand up to go look for her friends but her legs just didn't want to cooperate.

'Well, looks like I don't have much choice but sit and wait, for the moment.' She thought as she curled into a ball. The winds were raising and sharpening, making being at the beach quite uncomfortable.

'I hope the others get here soon…'

* * *

><p>Natsu landed with an "<em>ouch<em>", as he fell into a bush that swiftly deposited him inside some kind of stone construction.

It was only as the fire mage shook his head and stood up that he noticed that he was among some ruins.

He whistled because not only had they been at the mansion just moments before – and by that, he meant the whole team – and now he was somewhere in the island there some unexpected ruins were.

The fire mage took some time to inspect the ancient location of… well, he didn't know, probably some houses?... and how precise the construction seemed to have been.

And then he snapped out of that unexpected contemplation and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were starting to cover the sky. The weather was changing. And he had no idea about where his friends were.

Natsu started to run, keeping the water to his right side.

He had to find the others.

* * *

><p>Gray's fall was stopped by a tree. Branches broke and scratched at him and for some weightless moments he felt like he was still until the call of the ground was stronger and the ice mage reached the ground in a more or less composed way.<p>

He was in the forest, he realized.

"Ahh, so you finally got here…" said a voice behind him.

Gray turned.

* * *

><p>Erza had been the first to reach the beach. She saw Lucy and they walked towards the wooden jetty. A while later appeared Natsu.<p>

That was when the boat started to be sighted, closing in, fast.

The three mages seemed to be breathless so they didn't exchange a word. But they started to look anxiously around. Waiting for Gray.

The boat arrived and the captain started barking orders, telling them to get inside because things were about to get tough. But they waited. They had to.

As the sun was completely engulfed by leaden clouds and a drizzle started to fall, Gray stumbled from the forest. He was running as if something was after him, straight towards them.

"Gray. Come on. We have to go." Lucy's words were swallowed by the wind that started rising.

But Gray didn't need further instigation.

"Go, go! We've got to go now!" The ice mage yelled.

The group of mages stumbled down the wooden boards towards the boat. They filled it in no time and the boat started braving the waves, trying to put as much distance between itself and the island.

"What happened?" Erza asked, from where she was trying to maintain a groaning Natsu aboard.

"I'm not sure. I just know that we had to leave the island." Gray said as he slouched on his seat. He was pale.

"Maybe it was because of that." Lucy pointed at the island that was being hidden by the mists.

"What the hell?" Gray asked out loud through near unmoving lips.

"That tends to happen." The captain said. "We don't know why it happens but when the gods of the sea get irritated nothing good will come out of it."

The three slumped mages glanced at each other, confused and tired.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Yatta! A new chapter, something new was added.

What did you think? And what do you think that happened to Gray? The suspense in regards to him really is something, huh? ^^

Well, enough for today. It was "Dia de São Martinho" over here so there was quite a bit of eating – and that delayed me a bit. :P

Usual warning, no beta. Usual dedication, for you, my dear Citrus. :3

Feedback is always awesome!


	10. Ten

The sea was stormy which made the boat ride one or two waves dangerously, making the boat's occupants hold their breath and hold on to whatever came at hand really strongly.

It was quite a bumpy ride but thankfully they managed to reach the shore unscathed.

It was under heavy rain that the team, with a low morale, reached the inn.

They split up to dry up and it was decided that they would go to the inn's restaurant that night.

After waiting for Natsu to take his shower, it was Gray's turn to go into the bathroom. As he got rid of his remaining clothes, he couldn't help but look at his scratched torso. He blinked and let out a frustrated sigh. What he had seen had been too much.

'Maybe it was too much for me.' He thought wryly to himself.

But, how could it not be so? Gray couldn't explain what had happened.

* * *

><p><em>Gray stood up, taking the forest in. His head was starting to throb, making him give a shake and run his hand through it. His eyes were looking around, taking in the trees and the small opening – a clearing? – nearby. The tree leaves were rustling and a small breeze slid through his bare frame. Gray looked up and saw that his shirt had been left, ripped, among the tree branches. The mage gave a quizzical smile at himself. And then a noise broke his contemplation of the place.<em>

_"__Ahh, so you finally got here…" said a voice behind him._

_Gray turned._

_Before him stood a young man – or was it a woman with short brown hair? The androgyny of the person made it hard for Gray to qualify – with a lopsided smile. The lithe frame was dressed in a simple green shirt, a dark olive vest and long shorts. The feet were barefoot._

_"__Who are you?" Gray asked, wary. He hadn't seen anyone or heard anyone approaching._

_"__I am who I am." The woman – it was a woman now – said nonchalantly. And then the eyes turned to Gray and the ice mage couldn't help but gulp due to the weirdness of the eyes. They were red and fiery could be a good description to them for there seemed to be flames dancing._

_'__It's not possible, no Gray, you're wrong and must have hit your head so that you're seeing things. Flaming eyes, please…' he chastised himself._

_"__Hmm? Why not? It isn't uncommon between us…" the other said._

_Gray froze, eyes widening._

_"__How could-? What are you?" Gray asked vehemently while his head started spinning. This being couldn't be reading his mind, right? It was impossible, right?_

_"__Nah, not impossible." Came the reply, with a shrug. "And, as for what am I… well, let's say that I'm just someone that lives here." And then with a smirk, he finished his sentence, projecting to Gray's mind. '_I've lived here for quite a while…_'_

_Gray gasped. _

_"__Stop it." He demanded, adopting a fighting stance._

_"__Or what?" Was the amused reply. "You'll find out that your magic doesn't work here." The woman started walking towards the clearing, giving wide berth to Gray. "Then again, I'm sure you noticed some change, haven't you?" She smiled coquettishly._

_"__I… You're wrong." Gray denied._

_"__Ahh, no." The man's tone was amused. "It's there. Even if you deny it. Sooner or later you'll notice." There was a pause where the person tapped his index to his lips before stage whispering. "Though I hoped it would be sooner rather than later… Oh well, doesn't matter. Things have been set in motion already. You probably saw the girls."_

_"__Girls? Wait, you know who they are?" Gray couldn't help but ask curiously._

_In response he got a loud snort._

_"__Do I?" The man asked before laughing heartily. "And so will you." He concluded predatorily, with a smile full of teeth._

_Gray's instincts seemed to instantly go to fight or flight mode as in a subconscious level he knew that what was coming there wasn't good._

_The other raised his right hand and from the ground green vapours seemed to rise, coming to stand floating in an amorphous mass that settled in the form of distorted and weird leaves. Three slits created what looked to be the eyes and mouth. A menacing noise, as the one of falling rocks down a cliff, seemed to be emitting from them._

_"__But for now, much to my chagrin," the woman raised her arm and her face adopted a mask of mock-regret, "you better go." She let out a loud sigh and turned to the side, facing away from Gray. "And it might be better if you hurry…" she tilted her head so that she was looking at Gray. "Otherwise, some… unpleasant things might occur…" she concluded with a chuckle before making a dismissive gesture with her hand and turning on her heel and disappearing amidst the vegetation._

_There was a moment where it seemed to Gray like the world stood still. The green things, the wind, the trees, the odd bird. And then everything started to happen too fast._

_In one instant Gray, who had been on edge, had his nerves – his whole body, even – screaming at him to 'run'. And that's what he did._

_Gray plunged into the forest, doing his best to evade the odd sapling that got in the way, trying not to slip in the leaves and pine needles that coated the floor, hoping that he wasn't being slowed down by the branches that fustigated him. And through all of this he could hear the gravely noise a hairsbreadth behind him._

_'__I just hope that I'm going the right way…' he thought. And in the far distance, he could still hear some mocking laughter._

_And in the back of his mind, Gray had the niggling thought of how hard it was to reach his magic. How the other person had been right. And that was only increasing the sense of panic that was brewing inside Gray into a storm._

_Strangely, his feet seemed where to take him and so, before he knew it, he was bursting from the brush and hurtling towards his friends._

_They were waving frantically at him and Gray really needed no further incentive._

* * *

><p>The ice mage sighed.<p>

'What the hell… no, why the fuck did that happen to me?' he wondered as he got dressed. 'First it was the others saying that I've done something I've no idea of having done. And now that person. What did they mean with what they said?'

The ice mage returned to the bedroom to see Natsu sitting at the table and being weirdly contemplative. When did Natsu pause long enough to look at the rain going down the windowpanes?

"Hey Natsu. Ready to go?"

The fire mage seemed to snap out of his thoughts and stood up. His movements seemed to be strangely slow, lacking that spontaneity that so characterized the dragonslayer.

"Yeah, let's go. Time to eat." The dragonslayer's attempt at levity seemed forced.

They went to the girls' bedroom and in no time the team was going to the restaurant.

The meal was a subdued affair as not many words were exchanged. The food seemed to be tasty but, Gray spoke for himself, to him it was like eating ash. Even Natsu's enthusiasm at eating seemed to be lacking, as the fire mage was making use of his usually forgotten good manners. It would have been funny if the ambiance wasn't so serious.

No-one mentioned the island.

It was just too muddled and strange. And that bad feeling from before still pervaded.

Soon after they were heading for their rooms. Outside, the storm was still raging.

"Do you guys want to come to our room to talk for a bit?" Lucy started, tensely.

"It might be a good idea. We need to talk about what happened today." Natsu agreed.

They reached the room and didn't take long to take a seat, the girls in their beds and the boys at the table. Gray noticed how Natsu stopped to stare at the window.

'Weird…' he thought to himself.

"So…" Erza started, letting the word hang out in the air. "That island has some evidences about having unnatural things occurring."

"Yeah, you can't explain that house." Natsu quipped humourlessly.

"Natsu." Lucy admonished.

"Not yet. But it might be important for the mission if we do find what's behind it." Erza continued.

"But, don't you think that it might be going further than what was asked of us?" Gray queried.

"That _is_ true but…" the red head's words failed her. "I don't feel well with myself if I think about leaving without discovery this mystery. Besides…" she did a meaningful pause. "It's not only this mystery. There are more things out there…"

"You have a good point." Natsu said distractedly as he toyed with his scarf. "There's much for us to learn…"

"Well then." Lucy said with her 'this means business' tone. "What happened to you after that… thing…?" she let out a cough. "You know… I don't have much to tell. I found myself at the beach, near the place where he embarked."

"I was in the yard in front of the house. Those slabs of stone are too hard. I think I might've bruised my coccyx." The older mage let out a grumble.

"Ahh, there's nothing to know about me. I mean, I was thrown into these ruins – they looked quite old – and then I decided to find the place where you might be. I saw the heavy clouds and how they didn't look like good news. And then was that awful boat ride." At the last sentence the fire mage grimaced and seemed to pale slightly.

"Yeah, that was a tough one." Lucy said helpfully. And they looked at Gray, waiting for his side of the story.

"Huh, I think that my time separated from you guys was more eventful." At the enquiring noises, he continued. "Yeah, so… I found myself in the middle of the forest. Kind of lost my shirt in the trees. But then there was this weird person there… I can't say if it was a man or a woman but they started saying some really weird things. I don't…" Gray cut himself and tried to sort his thoughts. "Okay, there were these weird leaf-like things that just… terrorized me. What the fuck was that?" he said in an incredulous tone. "And then I ran."

A stunned silence met the ice mage's words.

"That doesn't seem possible?" Erza started.

"Don't you think that _I_ know that?" Gray replied curtly. He let out a sigh. "But it did."

"Well then, that settles some things, then." Natsu said in a decided tone. "We probably need to go back to the island but it's too dangerous for you to go."

"Wha-what?" Gray spluttered.

"Natsu's right." Erza agreed.

"Erza! No. I… I'm not a liability!" Gray stood up and turned to the red head.

"No, you're not. But it's not a matter of that. It's about your safety."

"It wouldn't matter if it were me or you. You would probably act the same way." The irate mage was trying to keep his voice level controlled.

Strangely, his statement was met with a wry smile from the red head.

"I understand that you don't like this but, it has to be this way." Erza repeated.

"I think that, before setting any plan on stone, we should take some time to think about what happened, to rest." Lucy cut in, in a conciliatory tone. "We can take the more serious decisions tomorrow, don't you think?"

"Okay. Fine." Gray grumbled and left the room.

"See you tomorrow, girls. Have a good night." The fire mage said as he walked out of the room at a slower pace.

* * *

><p>The two mages lay in bed in silence. The darkness was near complete but each knew that the other wasn't sleeping yet.<p>

"Gray, you were a bit over the top earlier, no? The girls only said that because they're worried about you…" Natsu told the room at large. There was an instant snort in reply.

"Yeah. I do understand that they mean well but I don't need to be coddled." The anger was tightly controlled in the ice mage's voice.

"They're not coddling. You would probably do the same if any of us were acting weird." Natsu replied. "Or having weird encounters."

"I wasn't the only one with one weird encounter. You also had one." Gray shot back.

"Okay," Natsu conceded. "But it was only one thing. You… to you it seems like you're attracting those things."

"What are you implying, flame-head?" there was a rustle that meant that Gray had sat up.

"I don't mean anything more than what you understood. But it's better to just go to sleep now."

"Ugh, you're acting like such a child." Gray said, hopelessly.

"Nu-uh. The one acting like a child is you…" Natsu replied in a sing-song voice.

"Oh. Go to sleep, you." Gray lay back down on the bed.

"Sure thing, frozen-brain." Natsu replied agreeably. "But my promise remains…" he added in a low voice before moving to a better position to go to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>The shadows moved slowly, twirling and contorting, as dense as smoke. Silence was complete.<em>

_The world was still grey due to the mists that seemed to muffle the whole world._

_The noise of the waves crashing against the shore increased in volume as did the moistness in the air._

_He could feel his feet, how they were on water._

_Sinking in the sand as the water made the sand dance in tourbillions with every movement of the waves, the results of such a meeting being the white foam and dark grey sand spiralling everywhere. The white fabric clung to his legs. It was flimsy but it still stuck to him uncomfortably._

_There was a voice. In a high-pitched tone._

_He looked up to see the girl by the tree line. Her mouth was moving._

_The hand was stretched out in front of him, delicate limb and shiny bracelet._

_As the hand closed on thin air, despair filled him._

_'__No, it can't be!' A female voice, not his own, uttered. The sentiments that those words carried struck deeply._

_The movement was too fast. The water reached her arm, enveloping it and closing in around it and starting to bleed into her body. It started becoming leaden, the water squeezing and making pain course through his body. He felt himself falling forward. But just before falling flat on his face, he felt himself be suspended on air. A hand caressed his cheek but it was too hard to open his eyes. He let himself plunge into unconsciousness._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **New chapter! So sorry for the delay but I had a moment where I didn't have internet and so, couldn't post. Then again, that made me continue writing so, was it a bad or a good thing? xD

And in this chapter we see what happened to our poor Gray. Yet another new character and does anyone have any idea about what's going on? No? Good. xD Just kidding. It shall be explained, later. It will!

Anyway, no beta, hardly any rereading to make sure if things make sense (sorry if they don't) and this is for ya, my dearest Citrus. ^^

Ah, I almost forgot, a quick heads up, I changed one or two things at the end of last chapter. Nothing major but it was just so that the continuity flowed better. And there was a word that was slightly confusing, maybe.

My most heartfelt thanks to those who are still hanging on and especially to those who comment. You really don't know how happy your comments make me.

That said, it's always awesome to get feedback.


	11. Eleven

Natsu woke up with a jump. He pushed back the covers and sat on the bed, breathing heavily. His eyes were open wide as he took in the bedroom, sweat clinging to his body.

In the grey light of pre-morning everything was as it should.

The window had a sliver open and the breeze coming from outside made the flimsy curtain sway slightly. The room was the same way as the night before, table and chairs, the clunky wardrobe on the corner, Gray's bed with a lump that meant that the ice mage was sleeping.

The fire mage controlled his breathing forcefully, calming himself enough to be able to listen to the other's breathing.

'Yes. He's there…' Natsu let out a breath.

But his heart was still beating too fast for his taste. Had it been the dream?

'Ah, I didn't count with weird-ass dreams.' The fire mage thought in disbelief. 'Not only is Gray being weird but I can't start too.' The dragonslayer hid his face in his hands and gave a couple of rubs on his face before running his hands through his hair. He let himself fall backwards with a heavy 'thump'. He closed his eyes, tried to think of _something_ but only flashes of the dream appeared. He opened his eyes once again, the corners of his mouth downturned.

'What the fuck is going here?' he thought, watching the light start to arrive.

The sun was rising.

* * *

><p>"So, I'll go with Lucy to see if we can go back to the island today." Erza said as she was calmly buttering a slice of bread. She paused to look at the boys.<p>

"Whatever." Gray grumbled as he stirred his coffee. He was in a bad mood not only for staying, as if he were a baby, but also because it was so early in the morning. Gray didn't overly like mornings – at least not of the 'get up at sunrise' type… like their current morning. "Damn morning people…" he muttered to his cup.

The other mages just rolled their eyes at his antics. They were more than used to Gray, after all…

"I'll stay with Gray." Natsu said while he threw himself heartily at the food in front of him. "Not having to ride that damned boat is a plus, on my book." He said as he cleaned his mouth to a napkin, spreading all the crumbs that were in it over himself.

"I don't know how I always end sitting up in front of you, Natsu." Lucy said with a sigh. "You can take anyone's appetite away, just the way you eat."

"What!" the fire mage spluttered, specks of food flying out of his mouth. Seeing the other's disgusted look he finished chewing the mouthful and swallowed it before continuing. "Ah! You're hurting me. So mean!" he whined in mock-hurt.

"Oh, spare me!" Lucy balled one paper napkin and threw it at Natsu.

"Hey! This means war!" Natsu said, all too cheerfully.

"Children…" Erza said in an exasperated tone.

"Ugh. Damn you all, morning people…" Gray groaned, he was laying his head on the table and letting out a small moan.

"Guys… I really can't bring you anywhere…" Erza was already rubbing at her forehead.

"She started!" Natsu pointed at the blonde mage.

"Wha-! No way! He started it!" Lucy counteracted.

There was a pause and then they started laughing. Erza just rolled her eyes and tried not to smile while Gray was smiling from his position with his head on the table.

"Okay, jokes aside. We have a lot of work to do." Erza had returned to her business-like mode. "What the hell happened yesterday? Who was with Gray, what were those ruins. How did we got split?"

"We can attempt to talk to the people. But they don't seem to want to talk." Natsu picked a slice of ham and ate it.

"No, they didn't." Lucy shook her head.

"Maybe there's something that keeps them from doing so." Gray wondered. "That would explain it."

"But who would have clout to do such a thing?" Lucy asked. "Or _what_?" she added as an afterthought.

"Whoa, you're entering too much into the world of conjectures, no?" Erza cut in.

"I don't know if I am…" was the hesitant response.

"There are many weird things…" Natsu stated, still more focused on the food than the conversation. "Ahhh, I miss Happy…" the dragonslayer added with a pout, while sporting a far-off look.

"For one, I think you made a good decision when you left him in Magnolia." Lucy said.

"Now we know how things here are possibly dangerous. Good thing he stayed back. But I miss him." Natsu slumped on his chair.

"C'mon guys, let's finish our plans for the day. The sooner we finish the mission, the sooner you'll see Happy." Erza reasoned.

"Okay, okay. So you girls will go back to the island while I'll remain here in town with Gray and, what? Look for some clue as to what happened there? What are the happenings in the island?" Natsu wondered.

"I don't know…" Erza seemed to deflate. "Just… something. Anything that can help us."

"Heh, that should be easy." Natsu deadpanned.

* * *

><p>Given that it was still quite early, the streets already had a hefty amount of people wandering about.<p>

Natsu and Gray were wandering through the town, hadn't decided about where they would go or would do.

The silence between the mages was heavy. While they were surrounded by people, the crowd's noise eased the silence but when they headed towards a quieter part of town, it was noticeable.

Nearly to an unbearable point. Natsu glared at Gray because all of his tries to start a conversation had been rebuffed but Gray was just ignoring him, impassively.

The street they were in led to the train station.

And then, all of a sudden, Natsu snapped.

The fire mage grabbed the other by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall of a nearby building.

"Okay, enough is enough. We're going to have a talk." He growled. "It's been long overdue. And, don't think about trying to evade it." He cut in as he saw Gray open his mouth to contest. The other mage held onto Natsu's forearms which were keeping him still and gave a push.

Natsu stumbled backwards.

"You dumbass." Gray growled. "I don't admit that you do that to me. The next thing you try, I'll freeze your balls. And what the fuck are you talking about? We don't have anything to talk about."

The dragonslayer glared.

"Oh, you can bet your ass we do." He said. "And there's no escape from having it. You know that. Come on, out with it."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Gray asked, in exasperation.

"There has got to be a reason for you to be attracting so many troubles. What aren't you telling us?"

Gray gave a little jolt. He couldn't answer that.

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Didn't say you were. But you aren't telling us something." Natsu tapped his nose. "I can smell it."

"Bullshit." Was the immediate reply.

Natsu paused and stared at Gray, his eyes squinting.

"Fine. Let's go." He grabbed Gray's forearm and started pulling him, walking in strides.

"Hey! Let go!" Gray really ripped his arm out of the other's grasp. He heaved, due to the force he had had to use. 'It feels like it's burning.' The ice mage thought.

"Alright." Natsu rolled his eyes. "Now, come."

"Where to?"

"The hotel."

* * *

><p>The docks were really busy at that time. Erza and Lucy had to get out of the way in more than one occasion. They headed towards the dock from the previous day, they had already sighted the captain.<p>

As they headed towards it, Lucy happened to look forward, beyond the dock. She stopped, in shock.

The red head noticed and she turned around, to check with her friend what had happened.

"Lo-look, it's not there." The blonde stuttered, pointing forward.

Erza frowned and turned around to look at what the other was pointing. Or, more precisely, at what should be at the place but wasn't.

"How's it possible?" she asked, surprised.

For the island wasn't there.

In the place where the island had loomed the previous day there was nothing. Well, in the place where it should have been there were a handful of vessels, doing their thing.

The mages hurried to the captain.

"Oh, lasses. G'morning." The man said, pausing to shake both their hands.

"Good morning. Huh, this might sound strange but, where's the island?" Erza asked.

"Ah, you're finding it strange, aye?" The captain gave a hearty laugh.

"Well, yes. Islands don't disappear like that…" Lucy said hesitantly.

"In regards to where you come from, I would have no idea. But the gods have graced us with plenty today. Despite yesterday's rage, all is well." He made a sweeping movement with his arm.

"I guess that your plan of going there today isn't going to work…" Lucy commented.

"Oh, you plan to go there again?" The captain asked in a mix of surprise and fear.

"Yes, yes. There are things we should look into… there…" Erza answered, she was frowning.

"Sorry lasses. But today, you won't. Have a good day." He gave a wave before going away.

The two mages ended up looking back at the place where the island had previously been.

"And now?" Lucy started.

"Now, back to the base. There's too much weirdness going on here." The red head started walking. "I don't like it." She said in a low voice.

* * *

><p>"Okay Gray. We're in our bedroom. Now, spill." Natsu said in a peremptory tone.<p>

"What? You think you can order me around?" Gray let out a chuckle.

"I'm not ordering or anything. But we have to talk." The dragonslayer said in a deceptively calm tone. He was just about to lose his temper.

"Okay then. What do you want to know?" Gray bit out as he got up and started pacing the strip of room available.

"What has been going on with you?" Was the direct question.

"Well, let's see…" Gray started sarcastically. "You and the girls started acting all weird because I, according to you, had a bout of sleepwalking. I don't have any clear remembrance of that so, I pass. Then there was that woman who, all of a sudden started talking to me about weird things and gave me an earring. Next I have a dream about the island and a girl and then, whoever, whatever that person was in the island yesterday just came at me out of nowhere!" he had said the whole tirade in one go. Gray gasped and waited for his breath to calm. "And now you, my friends, are acting like I'm a fucking bomb or something, ready to explode!"

"No-one said anything about a bomb." Natsu remarked.

"Okay, like I'm a liability. I'm not! And I'm going to show you guys that!"

"Whoa, hey! Calm down a bit, will ya?" Natsu got up. "Aren't you supposed to be the cool-headed one? Leave the hotheadedness to the professionals." He quipped. But then he paused and frowned. "Wait a minute. You said something about the island and a girl?"

"Yes. And the girl who wore the bracelet." Gray supplied.

"That… that's not possible…" Natsu murmured.

"Huh? Why?" Gray asked, confused.

"Because I had a similar dream last night."

"What?"

"Yeah…"

The mages stared at each other.

'_What now?_' Was going through their minds.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hehehe, did anyone expect this? *grins*

It wouldn't be out of place to say… the plot thickens… :P

Apparently Natsu and Gray shared that dream. What might that mean?

Well, it will be, hopefully, explained in the next chapter. Or not… (Hehehe, I feel evil.)

Anyway, the usual stuff applies, no beta – what explains the errors and awful OoCness that might appear every now and then (plus, it's late) – and this is dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen. :3

My heartfelt thanks to all who have tagged along so far. And a huge hug to those who have been commenting. I get really happy with the comments.

That said, feedback is awesome – as always. xD


	12. Twelve

"Now that was a waste of time…" Lucy muttered as they walked back to the inn.

Erza just sighed.

"I don't know what to expect anymore." She said as they climbed the stairs to head to their bedroom. When the door was closed securely behind them she sat on one of the chairs and turned at Lucy, seriously. "I'm going to ask something that might come out as unusual for me because… I'm not like this but…" she waved a hand in front of her face before letting it fall to her lap and she looked at Lucy. "Don't you think that we're in way over our heads?"

Lucy chewed on her bottom lip while she slowly sat down. She let her elbow rest on the table and her fingers drummed tunelessly on the table top. With a quick shake of her head she seemed to steer herself in.

"I sure hope not. I think that… at the moment things might be too confusing and we don't know nearly half of anything and everything is just… no. But." She sat straighter. "We're mages from Fairy Tail. And I'm sure that we can get to the bottom of the problem and make everything good again."

Erza had, similarly, placed her elbow on the table, but she was resting her face on the palm of her hand.

"My, you're optimistic." She said in a teasing tone. But then the older mage nodded and pushed some wayward hairs from the front of her eyes. "But you're right. We're not going to give up and will get to the bottom of this." She made to stand up, clapping her hands as if to get the dirt and worries out of her hands. "Now, I wonder where the boys might be."

"Don't tell me that you're worried." Lucy teased back.

"Are you kidding?" The older mage rolled her eyes. "Of course I am. Gray seems to be a magnet for trouble and Natsu is only happy when he's either eating or smashing things down – sometimes both at the same time." Her air of seriousness was broken by the edge of a smile that wanted to come forth.

"You do have a point…" Lucy conceded, in a playful tone.

"I don't want to get back at the guild and have to explain why the destruction was so…"

"Over the top?" Lucy piped in.

"You're so funny, aren't you?" Erza let out a small laugh.

"Me?" Lucy said in mock innocence. "I only know that, from what I heard, the boys – especially Natsu – behave much better with you around."

"Oh, forget it. Let's go see if they're in their room."

And so the two mages headed out of their room in somewhat better spirits. At least they had somewhere to go now.

* * *

><p>"You have got to be joking." Gray shook his head. "It doesn't make sense."<p>

"No, it doesn't. But I still had that dream. Was super weird because I had the impression of not being myself." The dragonslayer shrugged.

"That is seriously not funny. It's impossible." Gray continued to deny.

"Fine. So I only have one question to you." The fire mage paused to stretch out on the bed and open the drawer from the bedside table. He pulled something from there. "Did this appear in your dream?" He sat back on the bed, holding up the bracelet.

"Yes. Didn't I tell you before?"

Natsu stared at Gray with a "_you're dumb_" expression.

"Yes. You did. And now I'm _telling you_ that this _thing_," he shook the bracelet a little for emphasis, "was in _my_ dream."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Gray stood up from where he was sitting on his own bed and went back to pacing.

Natsu couldn't help but give a wry smile at seeing him perform such an action. It had been, after all, what had triggered the conversation and its bizarre outcome.

"Hey, you're asking the wrong person. I'm as clueless as you." Natsu shrugged.

"Okay, fine. Let's just-" he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Startled, both mages looked at the plain dark wood door.

"Come in." Said Natsu.

It was with surprise that they saw the girls entering the room.

"Already back?" The fire mage was the first to react.

"Yeah, isn't it too" soon for you to be here?" Gray added.

"Well. It is. If we had gone somewhere." Lucy answered.

"Huh?" Was the highly intelligible reply by both mages.

"We only went to the docks." Explained Erza. "When we looked out to the sea, the island had disappeared."

"What!" Once again, was said in chorus. The fire and ice mages looked at each other before turning their confused looks to their friends.

"Unfortunately, that was the truth. And we have no clue as to why it happens." Erza concluded.

Gray's mouth moved but no sound came out of it, he just made the impression of a fish for a few moments.

"Okay, that just brings the weirdness up to…" The fire mage didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"We were just commenting about weird things that happen. It can't be normal and what do people around here do, about that?" Gray asked, impatiently motioning for the girls to get inside – that wasn't a conversation meant to be had halfway inside the room.

"We didn't ask anyone." Lucy started. "But apparently this is taken as natural. A blessing from the gods, even."

"But we don't believe in those gods." Stated Gray. "From the way I see it, there's something external causing these weird events."

"We may not believe of know this system of belief but we can't dismiss things like that Gray." Erza said.

"Don't tell me that you believe in those, so called, gods?" Gray asked in disbelief.

"No, I don't." The older mage said with a sigh. "But, it has been happening for too long and we can't just say "no" to what we don't know and go forward with a half-assed plan."

"That won't work well." The blonde agreed.

"I don't see why not." Natsu said, from his end on the bed. "Sometimes things go well, the less you think about them."

That sentence caused a bunch of sighs to be expelled, eyes to be rolled or pointed upwards in a bid for patience.

"Natsu, don't." Erza said, looking at the fire mage before focusing back on Gray. "And we need to think about our next step. We mustn't go forward blind."

"You have a point." Gray conceded unwillingly.

"But now that leaves us with a new question. What will we do?" Natsu asked.

Erza faltered slightly. Mouth twisting as she looked at them.

"I don't know."

* * *

><p>Later, after the team decided that it might be better to lay low, Lucy found herself in her bedroom and, as Erza had left to go to the market with the boys, alone. She had noticed the book that Erza had placed on the table.<p>

With nothing else to do, she decided to take a good look at its contents.

Finding the index, she decided to head straight ahead to the chapter called "_Lore_".

* * *

><p><em>Many of the tales here compiled have been told from person to person ever since the founding of the region now called town of Shelagris.<em>

_It is said that at the beginning there was an immense confluence on the array of energy which culminated in this place. It was the perfect outlet as it led to the sea – a more than adequate place to unleash such a power, being counteracted by the sea's magic._

_Beings of power roamed the land then, and when people started reaching this place, which had been made fertile – more than it, to be accurate – by them, they welcomed them in._

_For a long time there was peace between the people, a balance was achieved._

_Except that, some time later, the cupidity had reached the hearts of some, brought by the few foreigners that decided to brave the forest. And by their own darkness._

_The forest that had always been a natural protective wall turned into a prison. The beings that inhabited it turned cold and unhelpful. The times of darkness were on the brim of starting._

_It has to be added that the appearance of the strange island was the beginning of the end._

_The outlet of energy culminated in the appearance of the island. It is said that it is a portal between this world and somewhere else. There has been some speculation and the one or two people who were allowed to go there and return were sparse about what they saw. It is also to be noticed that their behaviour was also changed and they returned to the island to ask to return to the other place._

_What brought the rift between the coexisting people was the taint brought by a death. It made the break in such a way that the beings demanded blood. Blood for blood, they said._

_At first the inhabitants didn't want to accede to the demand but then the curse was cast, down into the deep bones of the earth. The brown became black, bathed with tears of blood, the accounts say._

_There are no certainties about the veracity of the last sentence but it was true that there was a time of calmness and of a reacquired balance among the peoples. And the pride of a handful of darkened hearts was washed away from the island._

* * *

><p>Lucy closed the book and looked down at its nondescript cape. She was frowning while trying to digest what she had just read. Her face had paled slightly and the downturn of her lips seemed to have come to stay.<p>

Erza entered the room in that precise moment. She was slightly more relaxed than before which meant that the outing with the other mages had been good. The red haired mage instantly noticed the graveness that seemed to have shrouded her friend.

"Hey, Lucy. Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

"I… I don't know…" Lucy said uncertainly. "I just read that there has been a curse thrown at Shelagris. And there were also some deaths…" She paused and shook her head. "Who thinks that an eye for an eye is a good idea? It just brings bad things."

"I don't know." Erza patted her on the shoulder lightly. "But maybe it wasn't true. Lore doesn't exactly mean an exact transcription of the events that occurred."

"Yeah. That's true." Lucy pushed back the book. "Where are the others? Is it time for dinner already?"

"They went to their bedroom to place the things they bought. I think that Natsu is going to shower Happy with gifts when he asks forgiveness for leaving him behind." Erza said with a slight smile.

"Heh, given the way things are going. I'm kind of glad that Happy didn't come. At least he's not in this mess of curses and disappearing islands and danger. But…" the blonde paused. "Did Natsu end up explaining why he didn't want to bring Happy?"

"No. I only heard him saying that Happy was going to sit this one out, the same as you." Erza shrugged. "But you're right. We know that he, at least, is safe."

"We can't say the same about ourselves." Lucy sighed as she stood up.

"Well, I think that over here we're as safe as we can be, so far. The only bad thing so far was in that island."

"That… it's so weird."

"Come on. Let's go have dinner."

* * *

><p>As Gray and Natsu entered their bedroom their playful bickering over Natsu's purchases of things to appease Happy continued.<p>

"But, you know what?" Gray concluded, "It doesn't matter if you bring him lots of things or not, he'll probably just sulk for a bit before everything goes back to normal."

"Yeah, well, the gifts will make the sulking go away faster. But you're one to talk, always moping." Natsu shot back, smiling, as he turned to the wardrobe to store the bag.

"Not everyone has to be completely hyper all the time." Gray sniffed in mock outrage. "And I don't mope."

"Says who?" the dragonslayer looked over his shoulder before freezing.

Gray noticed and turned around.

Sitting at the table was a woman. That woman who had given him the earring. For the moment she seemed to be contemplating both mages, sitting at the table, a placid expression in her face.

"Took you long enough." She said while she got up, pausing to adjust her long skirt.

"What are you doing here?" Gray snapped, not being able to contain his belligerent words and posture.

That only earned him a smile. A non-friendly smile that made both mages feel wary. Her red eyes were flashing and her apparent casual posture was lined with a feel of strength that had both mages wanting to give a step back.

"I came to check on things. From what I've heard you had an…" she paused, lips pressing into a thin line of disgust, "… encounter…" she waved off the rest of the sentence. "But it was of no consequence, I think. Or…?" she stepped forward, walking towards Gray, her right hand twitching discreetly which made Gray stand still.

"Hey!" Natsu hurried to stand in front of Gray, blocking the woman's goal. "I don't know who you are or what you're doing in here but you better back off. Leave my friend alone."

The woman stopped just half a step away from the mages. She leaned forward towards Natsu, in intense scent of the sea coming off her.

"Oh, you're the other…" She squinted her eyes, straightening up and scratching at her cheek. "Hm… I don't know what they thought but it's not going to end well…" she stepped back and turned, the skirt swirling around her. "But I came to warn you." She turned back again, resting one hand on the table top and cocking her hip against it. "Find the connection before the woe."

The thing that was making Gray still broke and he stumbled into Natsu. As they both straightened up and looked back to the table, the woman was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, Gray. That…" Natsu turned to his friend.

"I've no clue, Natsu." The ice mage was pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to fight off a headache. But then he looked at the fire mage. "But it seems like you're in it too."

There was a knock on the door.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay, another one down! And I'm above the halfway mark (25k words) for my NaNo story. I've never been here. xD

So, from this chapter we can take two things in regards to the big game. :3

I'm so sorry it sucks. But now, hopefully, things will get livelier. The team has to return to the island soon.

Also, the chapters have been growing but, what's up with that? Characters… you give them a bit of leeway and they just take over. O.o

Hope you guys are having fun with the story so far. Thanks for reading.

As usual, no beta reading was made and Citrus, this story wasn't supposed to be so big. xD I had thought it would be… it was supposed to be done in less than a week. Hm, sorry? ^^'

Feedback is always awesome! And I really must thank those who have been commenting with each step. You guys _rock_! :D


	13. Thirteen

The knock on the door was followed by the doorknob moving and Lucy's head poking from behind it.

"Hey guys." She said in an overly cheery voice. "Ready for dinner?"

There was a sigh of relief by the two mages.

"What?" The blonde asked, straightening and opening the door further. "Did I scare you or what?" She gave a chuckle. "Come on. Erza's waiting for us to go have dinner."

* * *

><p>They were sitting at the same booth they had used in the same tavern on the previous day.<p>

As they waited for the food, the girls decided to address the weird vibe that was coming from their friends. They also had to talk about their latest suspicions.

"Okay boys, out with it." Erza started as she took a swig from her drink.

"Hm? Out with what?" Natsu asked, trying to pull an air of faux-innocence. Gray thought he wasn't overly successful. And neither did Erza because she just arched an eyebrow and motioned with her hand for him to continue.

"There's nothing to talk about." The fire mage insisted.

"Natsu. It's not going to work." Lucy added as she steepled her fingers and placed her chin on them. "You were acting very strange when I went to call you. Like you'd seen a ghost?"

"No. Not a ghost." Was the quick deny by the ice mage. "But we did see someone."

"Alright…" Erza drawled.

"We saw the woman who gave Gray the earring." Natsu let out the words as he launched himself at the appetizers. "Weird-ass woman." He mumbled.

"Is that so?" Erza asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "And how did that come to pass?"

"I don't know. She was in our bedroom when we got there." Gray clenched his fists on his lap. "And she returned with her nonsensical speeches."

"Maybe it's nonsensical because we don't have enough background." The celestial mage mused. "Our knowledge of the area is too little. And, unfortunately, it seems like it might be vital here."

"Vital or not, it seems that I've something to do with it now." Natsu said.

The girls looked at him quizzically. And that's when the food started to reach the table. It was as tasty as the previous day and the appetites hadn't been completely cut off due to the mysteries. So in the first few moments no-one said a word, being too busy eating.

After a while Lucy brought the conversation back.

"So… how are you in whatever's going on now?" she asked, placing her fork and knife on either side of the dish.

"Apparently I was chosen by… who knows. And Gray has to find a connection."

"Connection to what?" Asked the red head.

"Beats me." Gray said, dejectedly. "She was, apparently, checking on me. She knew of the… _encounter_…"

For a few moments no more words were said, the mages turning to their food and thinking about the latest piece of the puzzle that had appeared.

"I don't understand how that can be." The older mage was furrowing her brows. "There was no-one…"

"How about…?" Lucy started but she stopped and looked at her empty dish, biting her lower lip. "What if it's one of the beings?" she concluded in a low voice.

"Hm?" That seemed to spark Natsu's attention. "What beings?"

"Yes, what beings?" Echoed Gray, leaning forward.

"I don't know for sure…" Lucy fidgeted. "It's just that I was reading that book Natsu and Erza brought and it tells about some beings living in this place before the people came and settled in the area, creating the town of Shelagris. What if there are still beings walking around?"

"Isn't that a little farfetched?" Asked Gray, surprised.

"It might be…" Erza conceded. "But there are too many things that we don't know here and, who are we to close our minds in regards to what might be happening? Igneel raised Natsu, after all. And dragons have been here for a long time despite not always in plain sight." She looked at the fire mage by the corner of her eye.

Natsu just continued to chew on his food dutifully, ignoring the conversation.

"Alright but what have we done that we're of such interest to such beings, if they do exist?" Gray asked. The hypothesis of beings seemed to be true as there was no other way that he could explain the off-sentiment he had felt in the island.

"No idea." Was the quick answer.

"Great. So, I'm being targeted, Natsu's being targeted and we have no clue about the _who_ or the _why_." The ice mage let out an exasperated noise and shook his head. "Makes no sense."

"But it seems that it is tied to that island." Lucy explained. "It seems that it is a portal between here and, well, I don't know where."

"And are we going to the island?" Gray pointed out. "It tends to disappear and has a wacky house that throws people out of it, I don't know how. That one?" He asked sarcastically.

"It might be for the best. The worse of the weirdness is there." Natsu said before knocking back his drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "We always go for the head."

"I think that Natsu might have a point. Despite all that we don't know, it might be our only place for finding something." Erza said while nodding slightly.

"Anyway," the ice mage decided to steer the conversation to other theme for the moment. "Did you find something else?" he asked Lucy.

The blonde seemed cautious about what she had to say.

"I learned that old and powerful magic has always been here. And that, while the people that came here and those beings that were already here cohabited in harmony for a while, there was something that triggered something bad. There were deaths and a curse was cast."

"A curse?" Gray said, perplexed.

"A curse?" Natsu echoed, surprised.

"Well, yes." Erza said in a no-nonsense kind of way.

"I would imagine that, given that you two are implicated in whatever's going on, we'll have to break the curse." Lucy added.

"So that means that we'll be heading for the island tomorrow – if it's there." Natsu stated.

"Yes." Was the non-too happy reply.

* * *

><p>As the sun started rising so did the mages.<p>

Natsu had no hardship with it, the beckon of the sun as loud and clear as usual. He looked to the side and, sure enough, Gray was still curled in his covers. So much so that he even had the blanket thrown over his head, only the tip of his nose and some spikes from his hair emerged from under it.

The fire mage shook his head at his friend, amused. He got up and was to make his way to wake his friend. The hour to meet up with the girls was approaching.

As he was about to make his third step he went against what looked like an invisible wall. It was impossible to cross! Natsu tried to kick, push – even called up his magic – to no avail. It stood tall and was a real wall between him and his friend. When the smoke from using his magic disappeared, the fire mage was surprised to see what seemed like water on the floor. Natsu licked his lips and tasted a saltiness in it, and so was the scent that was now making the air in the room become heavy. The bedside table on the side of Gray's bed was emitting a faint light and, no, there was no reason for light to be coming from the drawer.

The fire mage attempted to knock at the wall again, to make Gray wake up and assure him that this was yet another dream – well, more on the brink of a nightmare.

Yet, the other continued as oblivious as if nothing was happening.

Then, all of a sudden, there was someone beside Gray, standing on the side of the bed, in front of Natsu. It was a shadowy figure, no discernible features as she was on her side. The only thing Natsu was able to see was her hair, wavy and sea-like – there was no other way for Natsu to call it – running down her shoulders and down her back. The fluid dress in white also seemed to be dancing under an inexistent wind. After a moment she closed to the bedside table, placing her hand on the drawer and the light flickered before shining stronger, or so it seemed to Natsu. Then the shadow person stretched her left hand to touch Gray's face. Everything became greyer for a split moment before, with a pop, Natsu was stumbling forward, the wall having just disappeared. He fell on top of Gray with a startled noise, instantly giving the ice mage a rude awakening.

Gray kicked. He kicked hard. And then started writhing to dislodge the heavy weight that had fallen on top of him. He left his eyes closed for he had the firm belief that '_you were still asleep while your eyes were closed_' and woe to who dared to disagree with him on that!

Natsu found himself lying on top of Gray, trying to get away from the non-morning person – he had already had enough bad experiences with Gray. It was _not_ easy to be on waking duty, when Gray was included – but at the same time he knew that he had to wake him.

"Gray. Hey, Gray!" He yelled while he tried to shake the other awake. His reply was a grunt and more writhing. "Okay, now I know you can hear me. C'mon. Wake up! Time to gooo~oo!" he said in his most obnoxious voice.

"Mmm. Not awake. Lemme sleep." Gray replied as he tried to turn to his other side.

"Nope." He started to pull at the bedsheet. "Time to go." He said while he gave a tug.

"Noo." Was the slurred response as Gray held up the bedsheet in a very strong grip.

Natsu stopped and sat up, straddling Gray, thinking.

"I think you just had a visit." Natsu said in a neutral voice. "Did you dream about the sea?"

"Hm?" There was a pause, Gray's body becoming still. It was such an out of the loop thing for Natsu to say – even more so since it was true. "How did…? What?" Gray finally opened his eyes and glared at the fire mage.

"I saw her, you know?" Natsu's face was grim as he said these words.

"No." Gray shook his head. "It's not possible."

"So how do I know that you also put the earring in your drawer?" he said seriously.

"I did put it there but… you must have seen me. Or just had a leap of logic. It's early, even you're bound to have one of those, even if it's only once in a blue moon." The ice mage's brow furrowed and he pushed Natsu back, making him fall on top of his legs. "Get off."

"You're really not a morning person." Natsu said as he scooted backwards to the foot of the bed. "But I can assure you, she was there. Looked like the sea." The pink haired youth shrugged. "There sure is some weird shit going on with you."

"Aw, so sweet. Are you worried, flame head?" Gray said sarcastically, his smile showing too many teeth.

"What do you think, dumbass?" Natsu growled. "Ugh, you're just too stupid." He grumbled as he stomped to his bed and started getting dressed, his back to Gray.

The ice mage stared dumbfounded for a few moments, glancing at the lines of Natsu's back, the tension radiating off it. He caught himself and looked down, catching the sigh that wanted to escape. 'Who in the world understands moody fire mages at the crack of dawn?' he shook his head and started getting ready himself.

* * *

><p>After a quick breakfast and gathering some food to take with them, the team was headed to the docks. No-one felt like talking and so the silence grew. At first it was natural, after all, it was just them walking the deserted streets of this side of town – apparently the early risers did it really early – and their steps echoed around them with only the seagulls' caw for company. But as soon as they left the protection of the buildings and entered open space, the docks, did the air become oppressive.<p>

Before them there it was, the island in all its misty glory, for now winning against the intrusive rays of sunshine.

One had to wonder for how long that would be.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay, so the team is headed to the island, again. After Gray had another mysterious encounter, though to him it was probably a dream. Natsu's the one who had to see.

These boys are so much trouble, let me tell you that.

Okay, I'm so sorry for not having replied to the comments yet – I shall do it tomorrow (as I'm falling asleep right now). And to new ones too… *winks*

Alright, usual stuff: no beta, this is for Citrus sunscreen. Girl, you rock and I'm really very happy for being your friend. *glomps*

Feedback is always awesome. Thanks for sticking around and reading, all the same.

Now you have to excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep. xD


	14. Fourteen

_A new day had begun, with sunlight hitting the wall against which she was turned. She sat up blinking and pushing her hair from her face._

_A smile spread on her face._

_It was _today_._

_She was going to meet her special friend and they were going to find the secrets from the ruins._

_She wasn't allowed there but it was okay to sneak behind her father's back._

_Rolling on the bed towards its edge, she threw her legs out of the covers and hopped down to the cold tiled floor. The long nightshirt unfolded down her legs, nearly covering her feet. It was with a grumble that she shook her head and walked to the window._

_Clear blue sky, a radiant sun rising to her left, the distant sound of the sea and closer the men who were singing while they worked._

_Yes, it was going to be today._

_Getting into her old pants, shirt and jacket didn't take long – thankfully, she couldn't help but think – and the fact that her long hair wouldn't need anything special besides a simple hair tie was another reason to rejoice._

_Looking carefully out the door, the corridor was empty. She could go now._

_The family hall was what worried her the most. Once she got to the servants and helpers' quarters she could relax slightly. They would let her pass and not rat her out to her parents. At least she had allies in the house. With a sly smile, she went to the kitchen, walking through the usual bustle that always managed to produce such amazing treats. She snuck a bread from the large bread basket and took an apple from the fruits' basket. The head cook caught her and they shared a look before the old woman winked and turned around to boss the two busy helpers who were working on what looked like pastries. She left the kitchen._

_And bumped into her friend Chico. The tall, dark man with blue eyes held her before she fell and made her twirl over herself, eliciting a laugh from her._

_"__Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked him, surprised._

_"__You know me, places to go, things to do…" she waved her free hand before getting back on her way. "I'll see you later."_

_"__Alright. Be careful." Said the other as he wiped some sweat from his forehead._

_"__Oh, don't worry. I always am." She took a bite of the bread before breaking into a jog._

_"__Ah, if you wanted me not to worry you shouldn't have said that." She could hear Chico say behind her. It made her laugh a bit as she ran through the working area – thankfully it was still too early for it to be busy – and slipped into the forest._

_She finished the bread and started on the apple, the tartness only making her hurry to eat the fruit. Her strides were sure and fast on the familiar forest path. As she was nearing the meeting point she threw the apple's core carelessly to a few bushes nearby._

_And then, she was stepping into the clearing. He was already there._

_The windswept short brown hair and the green clothes that blended so well with the forest green._

_He turned and his always changing face split with a smile. In the man it looked handsome while in the woman it looked radiant._

_"__Ah, so you finally got here." He walked towards her._

_"__Of course!" She said with a large smile. "Wouldn't miss it for anything."_

_He extended his hand and she took it without hesitation._

* * *

><p>At first glance, the ruins did take quite a bit of land and they were practically unsheltered. There was a small strip of land from them to the edge and then downwards was a cliff – though it wasn't of much height – and at the bottom, rocks were hidden by the white foam of the waves that crashed against the base.<p>

To their right – if they were positioned with the sea to their left, the ruins in front of them – was a small slope dotted with low shrubs before the forest emerged imposingly.

To Natsu it felt like the forest was watching them, their every move. It was odd. And most likely just in his head but… there was an itch to the back of his head that didn't allow him to relax.

That and the fact that they were back to the island of weird.

The team walked slowly, it was a large space and the rocks were still there outlining the places where once had been a building, filled with people and movement. It was strange. The rocks nearly seemed like they wanted to _sing_, tell their stories. Lucy might even take a few stories out of them, were they able to listen.

And Natsu had to snort at the silliness his thoughts were turning to. The others were being serious, grave even, and he had to behave like that too. Probably. But he couldn't. Strangely, Natsu felt like laughing and looking at the sea. He jumped to where there was the remaining of a wall, one area free of the not overly carved stone and looked at the sea, back firmly against the forest. Sure, the trip to the island had been the usual ordeal – 'Happy, I won't leave you behind, ever again. Gut feeling or not… I miss you…' he thought morosely while looking at the blue waters, seeing one fish jump out from the water and dive flawlessly. It made him laugh and jump over the dirt squares that were lined out by the grey, white and brown rocks, until he reached the strip of dirt and looked down.

It was strange. Natsu was feeling like he was overflowing with energy but he hadn't done anything. The others were already starting to look strangely at him. Natsu shrugged. He wasn't doing anything wrong.

While the others were inspecting the ancient structures and trying to connect them to what might have been their function, Natsu noticed that where more ruins were, a little away from them. It seemed like a small sconce in the native stone, also with structures.

Slowly – which was a feat for Natsu at the moment – the fire mage approached the sconce. First he noticed the outer wall, in a "U shape" and how on the ground seemed to be a slab of dirty beige stone, finely carved in smaller partitions. There were seven, being that the partition on top was larger than any other and in a semi-circle.

The fire mage knelt and touched the stone but his hand snapped away from it as if it had been shocked. There was also a strange scent coming from it and all that bounding energy from moments before seemed to be bleeding out of him.

"Hey guys!" The dragonslayer called the other mages. "I think I found something."

"What did you find?" Asked Lucy, the first to arrive since she was closer.

"This stone." Natsu pointed at it.

Erza and Gray got there and the four mages looked at the stone.

"It looks like it might have something underneath." Gray commented.

"And should we open it?" Lucy asked cautiously, taking a step back. "I don't know, guys…"

"But what if it has the key to all the mystery?" Asked Natsu, going up and down on the balls of his feet.

"And if it makes it worse?" Erza interjected. "I don't know if it's wise…"

"Come on. I bet that there's something under it!" Natsu whined. "It would be easier if at least one of you gave me a hand. I don't think that it'll be good if I break the stone but it's as thick as the width of my hand and heavy."

"Fine. We'll help you." Erza said.

The four mages managed to dislodge the slab of stone on one first push and then they slid it down, unearthing a hole on the ground. The dusty tops of six urns were unveiled by a gust of wind that ripped away the thin veil that had been covering it. And then, at the place of the semi-circle was something covered in white cloth.

That was when the wind became sharper and it seemed like the few clouds that had been littering the sky had grown and darkened, from one moment to the other. But Natsu approached the cove and pulled the cloth, before the others realized. It was a tablet in shiny obsidian. A purple fume came off it, raising and starting to cover the fire mage who was startled and attempted to let the tablet go but he seemed to be stuck to it. The fume reached Natsu's throat and started to heap in that area, making the fire mage gasp.

It was the combined action of the others that took the tablet from his hand, ripped him from there and helped take the purple dust from his throat.

The Salamander was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.

"Okay…" he started. "Now I know how it feels for a candle to be snuffed out." He let out a mirthless laugh.

"You moron!" Gray yelled, stomping to stand in front of him. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Seriously, Natsu." Lucy glared at him.

"That thing reeks of dark magic." Erza said while she looked impassively at Natsu in that '_you try one thing like that again and you're dead_' look of hers.

The fire mage gulped.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" he tried to say before they threw him off the cliff. "I just… did it. Don't know why. One moment I'm just looking at it and then I have that thing, which won't _come off_, and I'm feeling everything slipping through my fingers. It was hella weird."

Lucy facepalmed, Erza pinched the bridge of her nose and Gray covered his eyes with a hand.

"Don't tell me that you're the trouble magnet now." Lucy grumbled.

"Don't know about that. But I can pass without being like a candle, thanks." Natsu said with a snort while he slowly stood up.

The glares he received made him lift his hands in an "_I'm innocent_" kind of way to try to ease the others.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm so sorry that this chapter was short and nothing much happened. I had four more topics to develop on the chapter (more or less) but got some news that made me sad. The street cat we "had" died today and, well, it kind of ruins one's mood to write, ne?

He was old already but that doesn't mean that I'm not extremely sad. This one's for you, Chico.

Anyway, usual stuff. No beta. To Citrus Sunscreen.

Okay. Feedback is great.


	15. Fifteen

The team slowly made their way towards the, by now, familiar beach. As expected, the boat wasn't there – as the captain had been asked to come only in the afternoon.

There was an odd ambiance within the four mages, the unexpected event at the ruins with Natsu wasn't much of a good omen. Not really. And it was starting to weigh down on them.

Slow grumbles emerged, at times, as they trudged through the sand and towards the mansion.

"Do we really have to go to the mansion?" Lucy asked with a sigh. She was feeling uncomfortable, just thinking about the strange house.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Asked Gray. He couldn't help but glance warily into the green forest. He felt like he was being watched.

"Nope." Natsu said, his energy back. He seemed to have come over the whole curse thing unscathed. Apparently.

"Come on guys. Maybe we'll manage to find something there that will allow us to be done with all of this." Erza said, even her patience was starting to wear thin – especially so since her friends were in danger. "I can't wait to go back to the guild."

"Oh yeah, I want to go back and see Happy." Natsu added. "I wonder if he's having fun, with the others… I know I'm not… overly."

That had the other mages laughing and shaking their heads.

It was good to have some levity, even if minimal, when things were bleak.

Because, at the moment they were kind of bleak and no-one wanted to address the matters that were probably more pressing.

After the sand came the rocks and then the slabs of stone.

There it was, the mansion, once again in its majesty.

Of course that now it had some darker motifs that seemed to be in relief and gave an inauspicious ambiance. It also seemed, if it were possible, like the house itself wasn't interested in having more visitors inside.

"So… we go in." Said Gray, his shoulders slightly slumped due to the wariness and his hands were in his pants' pockets.

"That would be the plan."

"Come on, then." Natsu said as he started walking resolutely towards the heavy door.

But a few paces before entering, he stopped and turned. He outstretched his right hand and a flame sprouted. He grinned. "At least, it's good to be able to do this." He snorted. "For a few moments I did think I was a goner or something."

"Let's enter." Said Erza.

The doors opened without much ado, they were still as heavy as before. And the interior of the mansion was still as dark, pierced by shafts of light at some places, and dusty. The air was heavy and unwelcoming. Much worse than the first time they had been there.

Cautiously, they stepped inside. But there was nothing. Everything was as still as ever, the footprints on the dusty floor seemed to be the ones they had left there, on the other day.

No-one dared to break the silence, but they all knew that before going upstairs, they had to check that door Natsu had noticed before the weird thing happened. Yes, _weird thing_ was totally what they were calling it.

The eeriness seemed to have gone up one level and so did the near-pasty quality of the air. The malevolence had nearly gotten a physical appearance, eyes not straying from the simplest move, a breath puffing right into an ear, the faintest of air movements that were like a silky caress that left an electrical charge behind.

No, it wasn't a good feeling, being inside the house.

"It was right at the corner," Natsu said in a whisper, his lips barely moving. He was standing still, eyes open wide and expectant.

For a few seconds they all stopped. Waiting with bated breath for what was going to come at them after such a strident – in the silence – affirmation.

Nothing happened.

The mages resumed their walk, heading to the target – the door. And so far it was okay, they were unhindered but the feeling of wrongness persisted. Actually, it increased the closer they got from the nondescript wall.

"Are you sure there's a door here?" Lucy whispered.

"Yes. I'm sure. I saw it." The fire mage replied vehemently.

"But there isn't anything there." Erza said in equally hushed tones.

"Well, maybe-" Gray started but cut himself as his eyes caught on one painting. It wasn't overly large, probably as long as his arm, but it seemed to be in the theme that seemed to fill the entranceway – at least the one closer to the stairs, as the other was meant to show off as much wealth as possible, at least that was according to Lucy. But no, this painting was also a portrait of a family. The bright colours hadn't been eaten away by time yet and so it was possible to see the parents and daughter. They were all smiling candidly. Gray approached the painting and muttered, "It can't be…" before he touched the wall under the painting. Before his eyes was a young blonde girl, smiling happily and she had her head slightly tilted so it showed off her earring clearly. "Guys, look." He gesticulated to have them reach him quickly. "Don't you see anything familiar in here?" he waved at the painting.

The other three mages stared at it and took in the happy faces of the family.

"Ah, she has that earring." Lucy gasped.

"But what does that mean?" Natsu hissed.

"You have items from two people who lived in this mansion, at least that's what it looks like." Erza said. "But what could that help us with?"

"No idea. It's just another piece of the puzzle." Gray muttered, exchanging a look with Erza.

They continued to walk to the corner of the wall where Natsu stopped, touching the flaky painting of the wall.

"What the-" he said in a hushed tone. "Guys. It's not here." He turned around.

"How's it possible?"

"I don't know. I thought it might be behind a… behind something and that's why we hadn't seen it or of the same colour and so only noticeable when open but… there's only wall here. No door frame, no anything." Natsu said, slapping the wall with his open hand. The sound reverberated in the large entranceway, bouncing on the walls and returning to them much amplified.

"You dummy." Lucy, who was closest to the fire mage, slapped him on the arm. "Look what you did." She said in a hiss.

"You're great at stealth, no doubt about that..." Gray murmured sarcastically, his glare boring into the back of Natsu's head.

"Sorry, okay?" Natsu growled. "I didn't mean to."

"Calm down." Whispered Erza as she rubbed at her forehead. "Maybe the door's hidden and we need to find a button of sorts to open it." She said reasonably.

All of a sudden the ground started shaking, the paintings quivered where they were hanging and the sculptures nearly toppled to the ground.

One portion of the wall started collapsing inwards and in the form of a doorframe, bits of wall crumbling to the ground. Dust encompassed the whole place, raining down from upstairs and spreading out in an unbreathable cloud.

Slowly, with a gravely noise that resonated on the mages' bones, the door started opening.

From within a gust of wind came, sharp, tangy and cold. And then water started to gush out from the small opening of the door. An electric green colour seemed to be emanating from behind the door but there was a sudden flash of light and the water started pouring even faster. It reached the mages in an overwhelming wave that pushed them back, water turning blackish and leaving the mages hacking and coughing a black substance from their lungs.

"What the fuck?" Natsu heaved between coughs. He raised his hand and the black, viscous substance that had seemed to be water was covering it. It was sticky and shiny. The fire mage wiped it to his pants. "Okay guys. What's the plan?" he asked.

Coughs were his response for a number of minutes where the water stopped pouring, the door becoming indiscernible from the wall once again. The area was a mess. The walls dark due to the water, the paintings a sodden mess that had even been ripped by the strength of the water and the few sculptures nearby had fallen to the ground, only one or two broken and with the pieces scattered on the ground – the others were lying on their sides or so, unscathed.

"I dunno." Coughed Erza. She was kneeling and slowly getting up, long strands of hair sticking to her light armour. To her right side, Lucy was sitting and shaking her head, blackened tips of her blonde hair moving fast and spraying the dark particles around her.

"Ugh, that was something I wouldn't like to repeat." Lucy wiped her lips with the back of her hand, grimacing at the black smudge it left. "How's everybody?" she added, still in a low voice. Her bangs had fallen over her eyes and she was momentarily unable to see.

"I'm fine. Erza's too. And Gray…" Natsu was standing and turned to where he had seen the ice mage. He stopped, eyes opening wide and then blinking in quick succession so that the black water didn't enter them. He was, however, able to see Gray who had apparently been knocked unconscious and was curled upon himself against the wall. A flare of heat burned within the fire mage and he, and Erza too as she had seen the same as Natsu, hurried to go to him.

The ice mage was slumped, curled and surrounded by that sticky dark water, it made his dark hair look glossy and shiny in the low light.

"Hey! Gray." Natsu started shaking Gray's shoulder, making him uncurl and lay flat on his back. For a few tense moments he stared at the ice mage, letting out a sigh of relief as he noticed the chest rising and lowering slowly. "He's not awake." The fire mage looked up at his friends, who had approached them.

"He's still breathing, right?" Lucy knelt beside Gray. The fire mage continued to shake the other's shoulder. His hand was tight where he was gripping his friend and he was frowning.

"It might be better to try to reanimate him." Said Erza. They quickly and efficiently did so and after a few tense moments, the ice mage finally opened his eyes and had a coughing fit.

"What the hell?" he asked, blinking sluggishly, voice roughened by the effort.

"It seems like the something here isn't wanting us to go through the door." Natsu said. "But, hey, at least the door's there." He gave a smile that was meek and unusual on his face.

"But, what could it be…? Do you think that it has to do with the curse?" Erza asked looking at the wall that had held that _door_.

"The curse as in, that tablet from before?" wondered Lucy.

"Hm, guys. I don't think that this is the best place to be posing those questions. Weird-ass mansion that doesn't overly like us, remember?" Natsu tried to go for his usual attitude.

"But what about upstairs and the door?" Lucy asked.

"I wonder if going upstairs will help in any way. I would think that the door and whatever's making it so that we don't get there would be more important." Countered Gray amid coughs. He slowly rose to his elbows, turning to the side and heaving with the exertion. "Nearly drowning isn't fun, guys."

That made the others laugh in a slightly forced way. But that, apparently, seemed to contribute to lighten the air slightly.

"Good to have you back among the living."

"Come on. We better go outside. It's a better place to talk than here…" Erza said giving a quick wave at the air.

Slowly, the mages left the house. Once outside, their footprints were a dark contrast against the grey stone. A slow wind greeted them and seemed to warm the chilled mages.

"Now this is better." Natsu said, eyes closing as his face turned up against the sun.

"I have to agree with you." Lucy said and that got the hummed concordance of the other two mages.

After a few meters away, the team slumped to the ground. They stretched out and let the wind and sun dry them. The dregs of darkened water clinging to their clothes and darkening them still.

"Okay, looks like things got serious." Said Lucy after a while.

"Hm, they did." Erza said gravely. She sat up and looked at the mansion's façade darkly. The green sprouting from the windows and cracks in the stone was rustling with the wind and seemed to be as if the leaves were chatting among them, mocking them and their attempts that had been, so far, futile. The red head shook her head. 'Now that's just too silly. Where did that come from anyway?' she thought to herself.

"I think that the water is trying to kill me…" Gray said, looking at the few grey clouds that were strolling lazily on the sky.

Natsu snorted.

"You don't tell me…" He said with a laugh. The fire mage was focusing on drying himself so he was looking to the wall connected to the tower, distractedly. "Strange, you can still see the trees."

"Why wouldn't you?" Lucy asked.

"I dunno. Kind of got the impression that the people that made the house were thinking about it being apart from the greenery. And they were also looking into the dirt." The fire mage shrugged.

"Natsu. Are you okay?" Asked Lucy, blinking slightly at her friend who had become oddly serious, a faraway look on his face.

"Hm?" the dragonslayer blinked and looked at Lucy. "What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"You were too… absentminded…" the blonde muttered.

"Well, that doesn't matter. Now we have more important things at hand, right?" Gray asked.

"Yeah. We may have a proof that what we want is behind that door. But we don't know how to open it and how to not upset whatever's in that house." Erza surmised. "And there's also no clue about what it might be downstairs. And now I do wonder if there's any connection between that tablet and what's inside that door."

"I bet there is." Said Gray.

"Oh, and maybe it's furious because we found the tablet?" Natsu's voice had adopted a cheery tone – it contrasted too much with his previous stand.

"Natsu. You're acting weird. I mean, I do know that you're usually pretty hyper and happy but now you're oscillating between super-happy and super-serious. What's up with that?" Lucy asked.

"Hey! I'm not… nothing." The fire mage turned around and pouted. "And no, I really can't explain this. It's like… in one moment everything's okay but then there's darkness and, why are you looking at me like that?" Natsu said, brows furrowed.

"Maybe the thing with the tablet earlier affected you and you're only showing it now?" Erza asked, standing up but still keeping the mansion in her peripheral.

"Wouldn't be a first. Are you sure that you're not usually under that spell?" Gray asked.

"Who said anything about a spell?" Asked Lucy.

"No-one. Just a figure of speech, yeah?" the ice mage defended himself.

The wind seemed to pick up some intensity, the clouds now moving faster and coming to cover the sun.

"Maybe there is a spell or something. That might be the reason why the inhabitants didn't say anything. Maybe they can't, even."

"In that case, what do you think that we should do?" Natsu asked. "Weird stuff has happened to us. To me, to Gray. Just this morning there was someone in our bedroom standing close to Gray, and that thing raised a barrier. I couldn't get to him."

"You hadn't told us that."

"I have no idea." Gray brushed off. "I don't remember anything happening.

"It was… seemed to be a girl." Natsu said slowly. "I don't know what she was doing but that's how I ended up falling on top of him."

"That I remember." Gray said morosely.

"On top of him?" Lucy asked, one corner of her mouth tilting up.

"Hey, what's that smile about, hm?" Gray asked, suspicious.

"Nothing…" the blonde said in a playful tone.

"Anyway." Erza stopped the conversation from going off topic. "I don't know for sure about what should be our next step. Should we go look for the tablet or… try to break down the wall and see what's inside? I bet that no-one will exactly mind if we do some material damage here."

"Erza. That speech is so unlike you." Lucy said hesitantly.

"Lucy…" the red head said, the words '_seriously?_' implied. "It might be unlike me but we might not have another alternative. And you, boys, aren't helping by being trouble magnets."

"It's not our fault." Said Natsu.

"It's not like we've asked for this." Added the ice mage.

"Be as it might, we need to get inside and brute force is sometimes advised. The townspeople don't come here. They won't ask for compensation about something they don't know – or at least, they don't use…"

"But what if there are the other beings here and they don't like what we did?" Asked Lucy. "We can't forget that, right?"

"True… you have a point. And those beings, if they do exist… I am not sure about how to react. They're complete unknowns to us and we might not have defence towards them."

"But what if the going inside is the key to solve everything? Gray might thank you…" the fire mage pointed carelessly at the ice mage, the '_for saving his ass_' was heavily implied.

"Who says I need rescuing?" Gray stood and took a menacing step towards Natsu.

"Not exactly saying that but… it might be helpful to find a way for the weirdness surrounding you to stop, no?" the dragonslayer said as he scratched his cheek, not bothered in the least by the other's menacing posture.

"Boys, calm down, both of you." Erza said, raising her voice slightly. She saw them stiffen slightly before meekly looking at the ground and mumbling a half-chewed apology. "Very well. I don't know. On the one hand I want to go and force the entrance. But… it might be too risky. Besides, we also have that tablet and no clue about as to how to break the curse."

"Then… regroup?" Lucy completed the thought tentatively.

"I think that would be the wiser course of action, yes." The red head nodded. "But there is no doubt about the importance of that house and whatever's within it. It's probably going to be of the utmost importance to get there."

"But there's something there. It's working against us and does _not_ want us here – it has showed us already - _twice_."

The older mage looked back to the house, their footprints were long gone by then, the wind having swept over them and drying the stone. The uncomfortableness was still over her shoulders. The evilness that they had felt within seemed to be spreading out, gushing out of the house in waves, the same way that black water from before had been from that door.

'I wonder if it's going to change the weather.' Thought Erza looking up at the sky. The clouds seemed to behave in response to that thought as they got closer, menacing.

"Maybe we should see if we can gather more info from the tablet before going back. It's too risky to try the house today." Erza concluded.

"Yeah, might be for the best." The blonde mage agreed.

"Sure." Gray stood and cleaned his hands on his pants, his shirt long gone.

"As long as I don't have to touch that tablet." Natsu agreed.

"Like we would let you, Natsu." Lucy said, tilting her head to the side.

"That settles it."

The team of mages turned and started making their way, once again, to the ruins.

Though the feeling of malevolence still weighted on their shoulders.

The wind picked up speed and made the trees rustle more violently.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm so sorry for not having posted yesterday. I kind of fell asleep and yeah… that's why today's chapter is a bit longer. Though it's still a bit, well, confusing and nothing overly happened. We only had one confirmation. It's better than nothing, right? ^^'

I'm working on a few knots and kinks that are to come ahead but hopefully it will go smoothly. Still, for now, things are looking up for the 50k. xD

By the way, I posted some links of songs on my profile. It's nothing much but those are the main songs, the ones with more importance, to the story – to me. Feel free to listen.

The chapter is a bit long and some things have probably escaped me (yay for inconsistencies) so many apologies for that and the whole being unbetaed thing.

Citrus, I never expected the story to go like this – and for this long. xD

As per usual, feedback is awesome.


	16. Sixteen

Returning to the inn went, thankfully, smoothly.

The sharp wind had started flaying the island, making the unpleasantness of the island grow as the trees' movements became more menacing and the sand was brushed up to the sky in small eddies of golden sand.

They had returned to the ruins and Erza and Lucy had, carefully, taken care of getting the information out of the tablet – at least, as much as was possible. It had been a tiring process and even more so because the feel of evilness still seemed to hover over them.

The wind had also brought the clouds. Where the sky had been blue, only occupied by the odd cloud stolling lazily though it, it had become grey and the clouds of an even darker grey. The menace of rain was pretty probable.

When the boat came, they could only let out a collective sigh of relief. They were going to get some distance between themselves and the weird island.

Luckily, the rain only started when they were practically on the docks. The clouds let out heavily, the raindrops pelting down the whole town and drenching the mages and, practically anyone that was outside. The way to the inn was taken in quick strides, no conversation taking place between the friends as they only thought about getting out of the rain and to a cosy place. It was a day when they would most likely stay in the inn, ordering dinner from there.

As they got to the inn, the team hurried to the respective bedrooms, cleaning up and changing clothing in no time. And then they had to clean up the area minimally. The girls decided to go to meet with the boys in their bedroom, the night would be spent there. There was a lot to plan and many things to consider.

Dinner was ordered and, once more, eaten in an unusual silence. They had a lot on their minds and that feeling of wrongness hadn't left them. It still felt as if they were shrouded in malevolence despite the distance they had to the island.

"The food was quite good." Natsu said as he leaned back and patted his belly with a contented smile. Craning his head to the side he could see the rain still falling and hitting the windows. It hadn't let up yet.

"Not that you would be able to notice that, right?" Gray shot back. "With all the piling food into your mouth and barely taking the time to chew before swallow." Gray let his head rest on his hand.

"Ha, ha. Like you can talk much."

"Well, I do have manners…" Gray teased.

"And you are like a cat and a mouse, always squabbling about nonsensical things." Lucy said as she started piling the plates.

"They're children…" Erza said with a long-suffering sigh. "Haven't grown up yet." She teased.

"Ch-ch-children?" Natsu said in outrage.

"Nah, you must be talking about Natsu." Gray laughed.

"Says who?" The fire mage poked his tongue out. "You're too dumb."

"Ah, so you start with the petty remarks. Wait, do I need to explain what that is?" Gray arched his eyebrow.

Natsu glared at him and smoke went out of his nostrils.

"Boys. Calm down." Erza said, motioning for them to hand over their dishes.

"He started it." They said at the same time, pointing at each other.

"You're incorrigible." Lucy bemoaned in an overly dramatic way.

And so the inconsequent conversation went for a while more. They gathered the dishes and took them out, handing them to a person from the inn. Then, they sat around the table, quiet and listening to the rain at first, Gray, in special, seemed to be especially focused in such noises. After a while, the girls brought the papers. And the paperwork started.

Well, it was just reading the book and trying to come up with theories as to what was happening and how this was affecting them and the reasons to why that might be happening. What they came up with didn't leave them much happy.

"Okay," Lucy said as she looked intently into the scrabbles she had made of the tablet – she was sure that she had copied the writings correctly and that they might give an important information. "Let's go see if we can find something."

Erza looked at her and twisted her nose. Her instincts weren't overly happy with the past day. And she knew that the tablet was bad news.

"Ugh, I don't think that this is in current language…" the blonde said as she squinted her eyes, trying to make sense of what she had scribbled before. She stopped and turned to her side, to get some blank pages from her bag. She set on copying the words, once again. Maybe the fact that she now didn't have any time constraints and was calm enough to go with a steady hand would help them to understand what was written.

It seemed to be telling a story. But for the moment the phrasing was odd, she could correlate with something she knew, yes, but it was going to take some time. Besides, she was slightly rusty in regards to some things. "Guys, I don't think I can translate what's in here, just like this." She shook her head.

"Okay… maybe you need to sleep over the matter." Natsu said nonchalantly. "It helps." He said with a grin.

"He has a point." Erza added.

"And so what? We're going to keep here, twiddling our thumbs?" Gray asked.

"I think it might be important to find as much as we can from the book." Erza said, pointing at the nondescript cover. "The old man did say that we wouldn't find everything we needed in a book. But we haven't checked everything and so probably we're missing something."

Lucy shrugged, looking at the page she had written, still trying to make up its content.

"Maybe if you abstract yourself from it, it might give you some answers?" Gray advised.

The blonde looked at him and blinked.

"Yeah… you might have a point. I'll leave it and we'll see if we can find something more." She let out a sigh. "But if those beings are real, I don't know if we have many chances…"

"It's not like we want to engage in battles or anything with them. But I hope that they're just lore." Gray admitted.

"Me too. Especially, since you're being targeted by them." The blonde said before catching herself and biting her lower lip. "Sorry, I…"

Gray looked appraisingly at her and shook his head, unhappy frown set on his face.

"Don't remind me. It's probably nothing but… I start to have my own doubts." The ice mage grimaced, chagrined about his situation.

"Hopefully they won't be bothering you Gray. The house is too far. And maybe the island isn't even going to be there tomorrow. Maybe it's something that is there one day and the other not?" Natsu mused.

"Oh, as if it had its cadence?" Lucy ventured.

"Probably." Natsu shrugged. "Weirder stuff has happened, right?"

"Natsu, leave it be. You're better bashing walls or something." Gray said with a dismissive gesture. The fingers of his right hand twitched, as if in want of something.

"Shut up, ice brain." The fire mage mumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest and slouching on the chair with a pout.

"Natsu may have a point." Lucy said. "There's no need to go like that…"

"Ah, Natsu doesn't mind." Gray looked at Natsu and expected confirmation. "I'm only teasing. And I hope he isn't right."

"Why would that be?" Asked Erza.

"Because, imagine if only a person is there and gets lost or trapped – if the island disappears, even if only for one day, no-one knows what's going on wherever it is."

"But wouldn't it be best if it were for one set time?"

"Yes, but even so… the time away is too dangerous." Gray concluded.

"Well, we're going to do our best so that that doesn't happen, right?" Natsu asked, standing and walking to his bed. He sat on it and let himself bounce for a few moments, looking distractedly at the mattress.

"Of course." The others concurred.

A strange air of caution had set around the mages as a reaction to their previous experiences.

After that bit of discussion, they strayed towards lighter themes and not long after a strange somnolence was falling over them. It was still with the sound of the rain pelting against the windowpanes that they fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Gray could hear the waves, the coming and going and the crash against the shore creating a hypnotic rhythm that was calling to the ice mage, seemingly.<p>

The beckon got stronger, the world muted into a leaden grey where time also seemed to have changed. At least it was Gray's perception. The ice mage looked around and he was standing on a beach, alone. An immense expanse of sand was behind and to his sides, the only different colour came from the blue-grey sea that was in front of him.

No discernible light came from the sky but it still lit fuzzily the beach. The clouds overhead were of a darker colour from the sea, with the imminence of starting raining down. There was moistness in the air, tangy and salty. And still, the waves sang, a song that Gray didn't understand but that seemed to fill the dark haired mage and take over his body. Covering him with a strange cloak made of greenish and scintillating water. It covered his shoulders, over his bare chest, reached nearly the tips of his hands and fell down to his bare feet. He noticed that his pants were still on, despite everything. And then he realized that the tips of his hair were falling over his eyes, drops wanting to fall from there.

What looked like a path just made for him cleared in front of the ice mage. And then his feet started to walk, despite the fact that he hadn't thought about moving. His body was moving on its own and he couldn't do anything. Though… he looked at the water, eyes becoming cloudy, it wasn't a bad thing. Was it?

In the far distance he could almost hear the voice of that being from the distance, both the male and female voices were fairly discernible – and all of a sudden, to his right, appeared a woman. She was tall and shimmery, the hair fell down her back and waves with the sea's cadence, her white shimmery dress seemed to make the coat commanding Gray's body scintillate more. Gray felt his throat tighten, as if a knot had formed there. He couldn't even gulp. The woman turned to him, pale face sporting a solemn smile. Her eyes were strange, a green so electric that seemed to shock Gray to the core. And then she glanced at the sea, left hand raising to push the hair that had fallen to the front of the dress behind a pale shoulder. She had a bracelet of what looked like coral, the intricate form was even throbbing with each wave that crashed against their feet.

"Come." She said in a melodic voice, hair swaying gently with the breeze.

Gray's first impulse was to follow but he stopped himself.

He frowned at the ground, his feet digging into the sand and those holes being filled with the seawater.

No. He couldn't go.

There was too much behind.

And then, a hand on his shoulder, grounding him, mooring him from the revolt thoughts that continued swirling.

Yes, there were many reasons as to why he couldn't go. He didn't even know where he was going to.

Time spun faster, the wind picked up and pushed sand to Gray's eyes, making him go momentarily blind. The howling noise of the wind, the roaring crash of the waves, the beckoning song from beyond and then there was that familiar voice yelling at him on his ear.

Gray fell to the sand, kneeling.

* * *

><p>Natsu was lying in bed but he was tossing and turning, his sleep fitful. There was the crack of the window hitting the wall by opening due to the wind's strength. The bang that the window created made Natsu roll over and fall to the ground. Some rain was wetting the floorboards and the flimsy curtains had been ripped open, some actual rips in the centre area because of the strength of the hit.<p>

The fire mage opened his eyes and looked to the near black floor. Light was still nearly non-existent which meant that it was still night. At least the rain seemed to have eased a bit, no longer the fat drops, only this thin, mist-like kind of rain.

With a groan Natsu sat up. His eyes went to Gray's bed and he saw how it was empty, the covers pushed back carelessly and forming a heap that fell to the ground at the bottom of the bed.

The fire mage groaned as he stood up.

'Not this again…' he thought at first, still slightly asleep. But it was only after that that his brain kicked into action and he thought. 'Wait. Gray not in the bed… that again. What if he's targeted by the whatevers and…?' The fire mage went from slightly sleepy into full alert state in just a few moments. He only knew one thing – he had to find Gray.

Changing his pants, and putting on his sandals, the fire mage hurried out the room. He closed the door without looking back and ran outside. The town was still pretty much asleep and Natsu had the eerie feeling of déjà-vu. He didn't like it one bit.

With a furrow to his brows and a slight twist downwards to his mouth, the fire mage hurried down the streets – who by now were getting strangely familiar – towards the sea. He guessed that the ice mage was going to the same beach as before…

There was an itch on his right hand, it climbed to his arm and for a few instants nearly distracted Natsu, but he ignored it and, eyes fixed on the goal, he ran through the empty streets, listening to the echo of his footsteps reverberate and become loud, almost too loud for the hour it was.

Had Natsu looked at his arm, instead of just giving a scratch, he would have seen the purple light emanating from it. As he ran, the purple was leaving his arm though the itch became more intense.

As expected, Gray was at the beach. However, something strange seemed to be covering him, shimmering in the few light around and to his side was – Natsu skidded to a halt in shock – the woman from the previous day.

'What the…?' the fire mage thought, mind also stuttering to a halt.

'_Go to him. Quick. Don't let him go now!_' said an unknown voice to his ear.

The fire mage reacted without thinking, his protective urges ratcheting up, fire sprouting from his hands, he ran.

But he was stopped once more by that invisible barrier. Growling and letting out a stream of curses the dragonslayer kicked and pushed and, he actually saw in the sand how the barrier slid back slightly but it held firm.

'_No. like this…_' the voice repeated.

A green tint covered the air in front of Natsu, making the barrier crack. With a well-placed punch, the fire mage was able to go through the barrier and hurry to his friend.

His left hand curled like a vice on the other's shoulder, feeling something strange in the interface between his palm and the bare skin of shoulder. He ignored that and started yelling at Gray.

"Gray. Come on! Wake up!" he yelled, heedless of the woman looking at him, the pleasant air about her has been replaced with slight annoyance but she stood still.

Then, the ice mage's legs seemed to give and he fell to a kneeling position, head tilted down and drops of water falling from the tips of his hair. Around his shoulders the shimmery thing was falling, slipping like green translucent silk and mixing with the seawater that started crashing against the ice mage. Still, he continued kneeling, unfazed.

Natsu hurried to go to him, grabbing his arm and lifting him, pausing to see if the other managed to put his weight on his legs.

"Come on Gray. Snap out of it." Natsu tightened his hold on his friend. Sweat started cooling on his brow, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. Distractedly, Natsu noticed the sun rising behind whitish clouds, the island was also in front of him, unwavering among the mists.

'So we're going to have to go there today…' he thought with a grimace.

"You boys can't be left alone, can you?" said a female voice from behind them, the voice being carried with the wind.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** First of all, so sorry about the mess this chapter was. It was written in four consecutive word wars (which was fun!) and I didn't go back to check anything much. But, hey, in two hours I wrote more than the necessary word count. That's a good thing.

Now, it might seem like we're back to square one (because the boys are that silly and I have no say whatsoever about what's happening!) but many things have happened and we're nearing the climax of the story. The explanations are on their way – yaaay! ^^ (or, at least, more mess before the simplistic explanation. Either one…)

There is still no beta – heed my warning! – and the story is dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen. Heh, it's something, right? xD

Thank you so much to everyone who continues to tag along and leave comments, they just make my day. ^^

Finally, feedback is great.


	17. Seventeen

Natsu turned towards the voice, quickly. The person he saw made him pause.

At a good distance from them stood the old woman that had given him the bracelet. Her white hair was still caught in a bun, a few hairs falling out in disarray, and she had a brown coat that seemed to hang off her frame, the open ends flapping in the wind. But it was the eyes, still of an unexpected green, so bright that seemed to be boring right into Natsu's soul.

"You…?" he asked in a low voice, surprised, the wind nearly swallowing the words. He paused to adjust his grip on Gray's form – the ice mage was quite heavy while unconscious.

"Yes, me. Come on now. You boys need to leave the shore now. It's safer for the both of you." The woman turned on her heel and started walking towards the village.

Natsu blinked and paused for a beat.

'Well, the old lady has a point. It's not good for Gray to wake up here. And if I took him to the inn once, I can again…' thought the fire mage as he started trudging through the wet sand.

"You're not going to get there now. No, not now." The woman answered Natsu's thoughts. As she saw the dragonslayer's surprised face she let out a cackle. "Come with me, boys. Do come." She waved her hand before turning back, once again, certain that the mages would be following her. Fragments of words were brought to Natsu by the wind. They didn't make much sense, for all the fire mage could hear – he wasn't even sure if he knew what was being said.

'Okay… it seems like I have no other option…' Natsu scrunched up his nose and frowned. He adjusted his grip on Gray and started walking once again. 'Now if only you woke up, Gray…' he thought, looking at his friend.

The old woman took them through the docks, heading south and allowing them to see the wooden, slightly decrepit houses of the people who managed the docks, fishers and families. It was slightly poorer than the area the mages were used to but they had already been to the southern part of the town and so had seen houses in similar conditions – as well as better houses, of course.

The sun was starting to rise and they made a turn, to a street that led to the main street, it had houses in a not so rundown condition as the wooden ones but the fingers of poverty still reached there. The fire mage was taking in everything, the mould stains and the peeled paint as well as the whitened stone and the dark cobblestones that were worn out. The sky was still overcast but the thin rain had, thankfully, stopped. The woman stopped in the middle of the street, opening the door and pointing them to get in. Inside it was dark. Natsu had the gut feeling of it being a hole, ready to engulf and make people vanish – a black maw. However, the piercing eyes brooked no disobedience and so the mages entered the humble abode.

Inside, it was dark. Natsu's eyes took a while to adjust but he managed to see that there was a thin cot under the closed window, a large table was in the middle of the room and against the far wall was a long counter. There was a fireplace and benches and chairs scattered through the floor. In the other far wall there were smaller doors, black niches that led to who knew where.

"Go on." The woman pointed at the cot.

Natsu laid Gray in there. The ice mage seemed to be asleep, even if he had been semi-conscious during their walk to the lady's house. But now, nothing. He was completely out.

"Who are you?" he asked, as the woman had her back turned against them, busy tinkering with something.

"Me?" she paused, looking back at the mages. "You haven't guessed, huh?" she seemed to have some disappointment in the tone of her voice. "Well, not everyone's bright to connect things. But I had so waited that… oh well, you can't win all the time, old girl, no. it also gets boring after some time so it might be for the best." She continued to talk to herself in a quick mumble, still messing with some things from the counter.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu started to get annoyed.

"Look there. Light the fireplace, be useful boy." The woman mixed something that let out an unpleasant and strong chemical scent.

"Wha-? The fireplace?" Natsu repeated in disbelief.

"Yes. The sun's going to take a long time reaching here and so I need the fireplace and these candles lit." She waved aimlessly at the room at large. "Aren't you a fire mage?" she looked pointedly at him.

Natsu grumbled and went to kneel in front of the hearth. The logs were set in the correct position and so it didn't take much time – or effort – to have it lit. Then he went around in search of the candles and lit them on the fire, one by one, going around the room to replace them in the correct candleholder.

"Good. You're useful for something, in the end…" the woman nodded and returned to her bowl, adding a few more drops of whatever was in the vial – it smelt flowery to Natsu – before placing it back on the counter and leaning against it, facing the room, facing Natsu. "Now, let's wake your friend." She clapped her hands. "I don't see why you would let him unsupervised after what's been happening…"

"Who says he was left unsupervised?" Natsu countered, walking to stand beside the cot, Gray to his left, the old lady in front of him.

"Hahaha, so protective, all of a sudden, hmm?" she shook her head and took off the coat, letting it fall to the back of a chair carelessly. "I knew it would be like this. But no, they don't believe me." She turned to the boys. "No wonder it's going to fail…" she said with a smirk, looking appreciatively at the mages. "Am I right?"

"What are you talking about?" Natsu asked again.

"Or maybe not…" she let out a sigh and seemed to deflate a little. "Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon…" she shook her head and went to sit at the table, pulling up a chair. "So, what do you know?"

'Like hell am I going to tell you that!' was Natsu's instant thought reply. But out loud he said, "Weren't you supposed to be waking my friend here?" in a dry tone.

"Ahahah, you're right." The woman cackled and slapped her leg before standing and going to the counter where she took a small vial and, standing by Gray, let five drops fall onto his face. They landed on his cheeks, nose and mouth.

The ice mage seemed to contract his muscles, scrunch up his face and turn to his side.

"Oh, he's a tough one, huh?" she woman muttered before kneeling with one leg on the cot and catching Natsu's hand in an iron-tight grip. She pulled Natsu closer and had him splay his hand on the ice mage's face, smudging the drops on both their skins.

Gray let out a grumble and laid once more on his back before his eyes started opening.

"What the-?" were the first words uttered by him. And then his eyes opened wider before he sat up and looked wildly around – the light was still somewhat weak.

"Gray, eh!, Gray." Natsu snapped, trying to make his friend focus on him. "I'm here. It's okay." He frowned and looked at the old lady before continuing. "You had another… weird incident. But you're back and everything's fine."

"How can it be fine if these things continue happening, Natsu?" Gray asked as he blinked and placed his right hand at his forehead, as if to contain a headache.

"Huhhh, I don't know." Natsu said with a shrug.

"Maybe I can help?" the old lady cut in.

Gray looked at her, only now noticing her. The green eyes made him feel uncomfortable. And the fact that she was smiling as if she knew something more than them wasn't helping.

"Who are you?" Gray asked finally.

"No-one that matters." She said off-handedly. "But you can call me Line." She smiled. "Nice to meet you. And now, off to more important matters. What do you know?" She went back to sit at the table.

Gray turned to the woman, legs going over the bed. Natsu, on the other hand, sat at the feet of the cot.

"Nothing much…" Gray started.

"Only that you're in trouble. And I, somehow, got dragged into it too." Natsu quickly surmised. "But you know that, right? You gave me the bracelet."

Line nodded, lips in a tight line.

"But haven't you gotten to any conclusion?" she leaned forward on the table, spreading out her hands in front of her.

"No… nothing I can think of, no." The fire mage shook his head.

"What about you?" she turned at Gray.

"I…" Gray looked to his hands which were curled on his lap, he frowned. "I don't know… I think… but no, I'm not sure…" he shook his head.

"Hmm, you seem to be going on the right direction. But do think faster. Time is running out. And the clues you have are probably gone by now." She straightened and freed the hair that was in the bun. "But for now, it might be better if you return to your inn. Be careful. The path you're leading is a dangerous one. And it _should_ end _that_ way…" She slapped the table top and got up, going back to the counter. Line opened one drawer and took a pouch out of it. She handed it to Gray. "This might help when you sleep. And now, off you go, boys." She clapped her hands. "May the magics be with you. We don't need any more gloom and rouge."

She nearly pushed them out the door.

Stunned, both mages found themselves out in the streets now beginning to be bathed by the sun.

"What the hell has just happened?" Gray asked, still holding his hand aloft, stupidly.

"I have no idea…" Natsu replied in a similarly dazed way. "But for the moment, it would be better if we returned to the inn and slept." Natsu let out a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Let's go, then." Was the tired reply.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Argh, I'm so sorry that this chapter's so small! So sorry. But, hm, Gray got some help after the weird encounter. And something important happened and all I can say is finally! My bunnies aren't overly linear, it would seem. *grumbles*

Anyway, hope it was enjoyable, all the same.

As usual, no beta for the story yet (some of it was even written in a word war – I think I'm starting to become a fan of those xD) and all the wackiness is dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen. So sorry. xD

I must also thank those who have stuck by. Seriously, each comment puts a smile on my face. J

Any feedback is always extremely appreciated!


	18. Eighteen

The sun was already quite high in the sky when the two mages returned to inn, nowhere near the grey light from the pre-dawn.

They managed to get to the bedroom and to their beds uninterrupted, hoping that the girls wouldn't think about calling them earlier-ish. Maybe they were even planning to sleep in – the day had been a bit taxing. Well, they could only hope.

As soon as they both flopped on the beds, they were out like a candle.

* * *

><p><em>Night had fallen over the beach. The horizon was still painted with the broad strokes of purple and bright orange – the last tendrils of a fading light.<em>

_In the semi-light it was still possible to see the white foam of the waves in a glossy sea of blackness._

_Gray looked around, slightly confused. 'It was just morning…' he looked around, to the immense beach lined with dark shadows at the edge. 'How's it night already?' he wondered as he turned back to the sea. The last reminiscences of light were long gone, making him face the never ending inky darkness. It was eerie how the absence of light was so overwhelming – Gray was expecting some light, it was only logical, after all. Strangely, though, Gray could still see himself, a weak light seemed to be emitting from him._

_He looked down at his hands, palms upwards and clenched them. With a frown he looked up to the sky. It was, also, completely dark. Not in what he expected to be an overcast manner – the weather at the town and island had been like that for most of the time – but in a completely dark, no starts whatsoever littering it._

_It made Gray take a double take. Sure, he wasn't going to think too much about looking into the starlit sky but… what he was seeing was too odd. It made the beginnings of a claustrophobic feeling to start clawing up the ice mage's throat as it felt like the sky was pressing down on him. Of course that the fact that he was alone in whatever place it was, as well as the strange events that seemed to _always_ occur to him… it was starting to wear down on Gray, throwing him off his balance._

_Deep down the ice mage was worried and not liking one bit the happenings of late._

_He turned towards the shadowy shapes that seemed to be undulating to a wind that he didn't feel or hear._

_And then, things started to come into focus._

_There was a splashing sound behind him. Gray turned sharply towards the seashore._

_It was… a young woman._

_The dark haired woman he had seen. The girl with the bracelet. She wore a white dress, the bottom was drenched and adhering to her legs._

_The long black hair was in disarray, thrown down her shoulders and back, strands coming to plaster to her face, obscuring her expression for a few moments. The dark of the hair in stark contrast against the pale skin._

_But the expression the young woman wore was pained, beyond that – it was devastated. Eyes filled with anguish and mouth moving soundlessly._

_She tried to walk forward but something seemed to be keeping her immobile. She stretched her hand in front of her, the bracelet glinting in the non-light and Gray let out a gasp._

_He knew this._

_He had experienced this scene._

_His head turned to the other side so fast that it nearly gave Gray whiplash._

_But, there she was. The young girl. The pained and worried expression, shaking her head._

_And behind her was that person. Both male and female faces were solemn, calmly looking at what was happening in the beach._

_'__What will he win from the outcome? What can it be?' Gray raked his brain to try to find an answer but he couldn't find it, he just didn't understand._

_The dark haired girl stumbled, finally managing to force away whatever was keeping her there, and started falling. But, in the blink of an eye, the other person was there, catching her before she fell into the water. He cupped her cheek and murmured some words to the seemingly unconscious form. Then, they smiled and a bright light cocooned the young woman's body. The only thing Gray saw other than that was, by the corner of his eye, the girl turning her head to the side and closing her eyes hard, biting on her lower lip._

_There was a piercing scream ripping the air followed by a flash of light._

_And then darkness engulfed everything._

* * *

><p><em>Natsu was feeling pretty content, seemingly floating in a bed of clouds. His mind supplied him with memories of the moments when sometimes he was truly only floating before being caught by Igneel and laughing, deeply, happily as there were no worries in the world.<em>

_It was a strange feeling, to be experiencing something similar. It had been so long ago… so maybe what was happening was a dream, was the fleeting thought._

_It was a dream, he concluded. That was the only option…_

_But he let himself relax for just one more instant before having to open his eyes and face whatever the dream had in store for him. And so, he lay._

_After a few delicious moments, the fire mage opened his eyes, to be met with fluffy white clouds strolling on the bright blue sky._

_Laughter caught his attention and so Natsu sat up. He was lying on some grass that was on the strip of land that made the transition between beach and forest. The forest was alive and lush, there seemed to exist an energy that flowed in the plants, the green seeming even brighter due to that, coming in waves off them._

_'__Hm, this doesn't look like the forest of the island…' thought the fire mage. 'It's too bright and alive, to be it. Besides, the vitality doesn't feel suspicious or evil…' Natsu scrunched up his face in thought. He got up from the grass and placed his hand on a tree bark. The energy flowing over it seemed to start flowing up his arm, tickling him. A lopsided smile appeared on his face as he removed his hand and looked around. 'That was odd. But, a good odd.' He shook his head at his own thoughts. 'Now… I heard laughter somewhere. Better go find it.' He gave himself a tiny nod and looked around. He didn't see anything at the beach and so, mind made, decided to brave into the forest. It felt welcoming, in opposition to the forest he had seen at the island._

_Natsu started walking through the large trees and bushes, listening to the birds sing joyously and the trees' leaves rustle with the slow caress of the wind – it was true that the fire mage couldn't feel any wind given that the trees and vegetation were like a buffer between him and the breezes that came from the wind but they did reach the tree tops, the rest propagated to the rest of the tree and the surrounding ones, like a wave. It wasn't a defined path he was on, but it was easy enough to follow, without any bad surprises._

_After a moment, there was another laugh._

_Natsu followed it, coming to stand outside of a clearing – it was like a field of grass, only the odd patch of earth sprouting, sometimes hidden by the wild flowers that seemed to pepper the green with their bright colours._

_In the middle of the clearing stood two people. The first person he noticed was the girl – she had something that was oddly familiar but Natsu couldn't exactly put his finger in how that was – and the other was the taller person – they were with their back to Natsu and just the short hair and lithe figure weren't enough to allow him to do any statements._

_The young girl was speaking really fast, bright eyes and a large grin on her face – her blonde hair was tied in a practical ponytail and she was gesticulating somewhat wildly, in a probably attempt at making her point come across. Her interlocutor was replying at a calmer pace, left_ _hand waving every now and then._

_After a few instants they sat on the ground, the girl crossing her legs and leaning forward in expectation. The other started speaking and she was hanging onto every word said. And then, something really odd happened. The person with their back to Natsu turned towards him and the fire mage started, not expecting to be seen – nothing had seemed to indicate that he was. But that young man seemed to be looking straight into Natsu. And then the face changed and it was a woman looking at him and Natsu's mouth fell with his surprise. The woman winked at Natsu before turning back to the girl who was still looking seriously at them. She didn't even seem to have noticed time go by, only moving to push a strand of hair behind her ear._

_And an earring shone at Natsu before the ground trembled and trees started falling. The fire mage tried to get away, but he was surrounded by darkness in the blink of an eye. Before it completely took him in, Natsu was able to discern some words being maliciously whispered to his ear._

I've got you now…

* * *

><p>Natsu sat up in his bed with a gasp, looking around wildly to try to find the person, the words too present around him.<p>

Thankfully the bedroom was empty but of him and Gray. And it did make Natsu let out a relieved sigh, seeing Gray lying in his bed, streaks of sunlight hitting him from where they hadn't closed the binds the previous night.

Gray's sleep seemed to be becoming more agitated and so Natsu was just about to stand up and go wake him when there was a knock from the door. He looked at it dumbly before standing and, hurriedly putting on his pants, went to get it – not before pausing to give a slight shake on Gray's shoulder.

It was the girls. They had decided that they had slept enough and so had come to wake them up. Natsu gave them a half-smile before shaking his head and explaining that they did deserve more sleep, after the morning they had had.

Unbeknownst to them, Gray was gripping his bed sheets tightly as he was frozen in place. But the weird thing about that was that water seemed to be flowing out of his hands.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** New chapter! So sorry about the silence. I was away for the whole weekend and my internet was pretty much non-existent. And since I wasn't home and was so tired by the end of the day, I didn't do any writing during the whole weekend. But I can't lose the momentum, nope. *crosses fingers*

Apologies for only replying to the comments now. I was supposed to have posted this chapter last night but… internet problems sometimes suck big time. Who am I kidding? They always suck. -.- So, hopefully there'll be a 'double post' today. Yay?

Yup, I better hurry writing during the afternoon because it's the birthday of a huge friend of mine and I don't know if I'm going to eat cake at her house tonight. Hmm, cake. X3

Also, something unrelated, I just found a doc with a story I'd totally forgotten about. It's for my Seasons 'verse and I checked what I have so far and started feeling excited about it all over again! It's just a prequel but, wow, I can't wait to continue it. X3 (Though there are other stories that need some attention before that… *coughs*like TbC and a few others from other fandoms…*coughs*)

The usual "no beta" and dedication of the story to Citrus Sunscreen is here. ^^

And the usual heartfelt shoutout to everybody who has been reading the story – especially to those who have been commenting! You guys deserve a tight hug and some chocolate cake slices – Obelix-sized! xD

Feedback is always awesome! And, wow, the 50k words (as well as the end of the month) are fast approaching.


	19. Nineteen

Gray woke up with a start, a first, primal, instinct screaming at him to cover himself. And so he did so, turning to his side and, having grabbed the cover, pushing it over himself and also over his head. There was just a sliver of light coming from the small area where his hand allowed it so.

His breaths seemed loud in the confined space but it didn't take long for the Gray to calm, letting his rational mind take over. He analysed the outside, hearing muffled noises – voices.

He strained his ear to pick what they were saying but it was hard to discern. Thankfully, he noticed that the voices were familiar and so he let himself sag against the mattress, the state of high alert he had found himself in diminishing.

Slowly, he pushed back the cover, his head peeking from underneath the worn fabric.

"Ah, you're finally awake." He heard Natsu say, the grin could even be heard in his tone.

"Shut up…" he grumbled, throwing a squinted glare at his friend. "What do you want?"

"Food, of course." Was the deadpanned reply.

From some distance he could hear soft giggles coming from the girls.

"Of course… what else would you be thinking of?" Gray muttered as he sat up and started pushing his covers back, rolling his eyes. "If it were something else I'd been surprised."

"Hey, you make me sound like a glutton!" Natsu said indignantly.

"Aren't you?" Gray shot back, shaking his head as he stood. "Huh…" he paused, noticing his naked state. In the distance he could hear a squeak and a laugh before the door closed with a bang.

"Well, I'd warn before starting to walk around in my birthday suit…" Natsu teased, leaning against the door with a smirk.

"It's not like I noticed, okay?" Gray glared at Natsu, now on full blast, before going to the wardrobe and picking some clothes. But he suddenly had a flare of pain bursting through his head and wavered before sagging forward and nearly knocking his head against the wooden door. Luckily Natsu had quick reflexes and was grabbing his friend before he fell to the ground.

"What the-?" the fire mage asked, astounded. Gray's limp body was being tightly held in his hands. After a few moments it seemed like Gray was starting to wake up and so Natsu knelt down, letting him lay on the ground. The other came to, after not much time and looked up at Natsu, confused.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting up yet again, the clothes strategically placed over his lap. "I was picking my clothes and then… what?" he asked in an uncertain tone. "There was a pain and I blacked out. Then there was something that called on to me and I wake up here."

"What the hell, Gray." Natsu asked, the franticness still about him.

"Hey, don't ask me. I have no explanation. Just… lemme go. Need to shower." Gray pushed Natsu slightly back before getting to a standing position on wobbling legs. He headed to the shower then, without looking back.

Natsu kept kneeling there, on the floor, slightly without reaction at what had just happened.

'Another thing to add to the list of weirdnesses?' he wondered before sighing and standing, and going outside towards the girls' room. He did have a fleeting though about if he should stay and wait, just in case something happened. But he decided against it. After all, something had just happened. It wouldn't do to have it happening so shortly after it, right?

The door to the bedroom closed quietly.

* * *

><p>Gray was standing under the shower, water drenching him and his hair falling over his eyes. He closed his eyes and made a fist, punching the tiled wall. The noise echoed in counterpoint to the one coming from the water. Gray leaned forward to rest his head against the wall.<p>

'No. Nonononono, this is not happening. Right?' he thought, hand splaying out against the white tile. Suddenly he threw his head back, water hitting his face now, hiding the grimace that had taken over his expression. 'What the fuck is-? It just wasn't… What-?' his thoughts were jumbled, crashing one against the other and not making any sense.

After a few moments where he desperately tried to clear his mind – to no effect – the dark haired mage closed the water faucet and went through the mechanical motions of cleaning himself. He wasn't feeling himself but maybe going through the usual motions might have something into grounding himself. Of course that his mind was still bustling with questions.

'What is this? What's happened to me? I don't understand…'

Gray finished his shower and dried himself, putting on his pants. He started drying his hair, water droplets still falling down his shoulders and torso.

He distractedly went back to the room, sitting on his bed, towel thrown carelessly over his shoulders. He sat down dejectedly, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and hands grasped loosely in front of him. He could see the water droplets falling from the tips of his hair and forming darker circles on the floorboards, in between his bare feet.

'And now… what do you think about doing?' he asked himself. The strangeness had been growing in the last day and it was in no way comforting. It was odd and wrong and worrying Gray.

However, he didn't think about telling that to the others. No, not yet. Maybe he could still think something up before it came to that. At least, for now.

'But… how about how I've woken up?' Gray started wondering, throwing the towel to the floor and leaning back, falling back to lay on the bed.

Ever since Ur and her training, Gray's reaction to warmth and heat had changed – understandably. Sure, he wasn't like a scalded cat, that was for sure but… he had stopped associating it intrinsically with well-being, with caring. Other things took that place, yet… yet… just now he had found himself feeling, experiencing feelings he hadn't had in a long while.

Gray let out a frustrated sigh. He just couldn't come up with a good explanation to anything. And then that _woman_ had given him the earring – another damn piece of a puzzle that felt incomplete. Gray turned to his side and stretched out his hand to rummage on the drawer, looking for the earring. After lazily looking for it, he frowned and sat up, staring intently into the drawer's contents. It was mostly empty. A notepad with a pen, the pouch that the old lady from before had given him and the earring should be the sole contents of it. But, the earring wasn't there.

'What the fuck-?' Gray took out the drawer and dumped its contents on his, still unmade, bed.

But it was gone. The small earring wasn't on the bed, so Gray thought that it might have fallen to the ground and so he went to look under the bed. And still there was nothing.

As Gray was going to stand up, he was filled by an uneasiness that made his head swim and he ended up falling, face first, into the bed.

'And now what's up with this?' he thought as soon as he got his bearings back. He let out a groan and threw away the notepad and pen who were poking him on his side. The pouch, however, was beside his head. Gray stared at it before turning to his back and picking it up.

'The earring's gone but I have this. What for? What does it contain?' he wondered, untying the end of the pouch, but when it came to it, he was unable to open it. Something seemed to have sealed it shut and at the same time it was like there was a shield of sorts impeaching him from getting closer. Gray snorted and let it be. He looked at the ceiling and gave a mirthless laugh.

"Today's not my day – again…" he told the empty room.

* * *

><p>Natsu had talked to the girls and told them what had happened during the hours of dawn. His friends were understandably worried. And as soon as they realized it, the three mages hurried to the boys' bedroom. It wasn't a good idea to leave Gray alone and Natsu heard quite a sermon for having done so. But thankfully the other mage was still there, lying in his bed with his bedside table drawer leaning against the bed frame.<p>

The three mages exchanged a look that went unnoticed by Gray who had his eyes closed.

"Gray. We're back." Natsu said.

"I could hear that." Was the tired reply. He opened his eyes to look at his friends.

"At least you're clothed now." Lucy quipped.

"Heh, like you were so shocked." Gray shot back with a sharp smile. The blonde mage blushed.

"Anyway," Erza cut in before they went off topic, "are you feeling better? Natsu said that you weren't all that well just a little ago."

"'m fine." Gray waved off her concern. "I think that there's something that we should worry about now. The earring seems to have disappeared." He pointed at the empty drawer.

"What?" Natsu asked. "But nobody touched anything, as far as I know." He rubbed his nose.

"Maybe you're not supposed to know. Who knows if that canine scent of yours is working in good condition. But go check if the bracelet is still there." He waved at the fire mage.

Natsu did so. Pulling off the drawer and throwing its contents to the bed.

The bracelet was also gone.

"What the fuck?" Natsu asked as he looked up at the girls. "Did any of you touch them?" he asked.

"We didn't even know you had stored them over there." Erza replied, frown deep on her face.

The team was left speechless.

"But, I don't smell anyone other than us here at the drawers, there's a tang of sea-scent but that's in everything, permeating the air."

"Well, it's not like those things told us much, right?" Lucy tried.

"No. I don't think they did. All I know is that a dark haired girl wore the bracelet, ah, she was from the painting at the mansion…" Gray started.

"And a girl with light hair wore the earring." Natsu cut in. "Hey, she was also at that house, I remember now." Natsu snapped his fingers at his remembrance.

"Wait. They were both at the house?" Lucy asked. In return she got nods from both boys. "What if… there's a connection between them?"

"Such as having lived both in the same place?" Asked Erza.

"Yes. But also, remember those books?" Lucy looked at the older mage. "What if there's an event connecting them?"

"Maybe the dream…" Gray muttered, his words only being picked by Natsu, who started and looked bug-eyed at Gray.

"Could that be the connection?" he asked. "But what does that mean?"

"It means that we need to go back to that island." Was Gray's firm response.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Phew, took a little bit longer than expected, this chapter. Of course that some RL curve balls also helped. And having a cat on my lap while typing sometimes can be somewhat hindering. xD

Anyway, the island. There they go again. But this time stuff is going to happen – for real! Do look forward to it. I'll just hide from the chapter now. xD

No beta (or needed reread), dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen and also, since it was my dearest friend's bday, to my dear and oldest friend, V! ^^

Feedback is always awesome. And now I need sleeeeep! xD

See you tomorrow (space cowboy).


	20. Twenty

So, the team went back to the docks, found the same captain and boat (as they had been doing so far, since he had been fearless enough to continuously take them there) and headed to the island.

The sea was calm, the boat's bow cutting like a knife through the deep blue waters, creating white foam, some bigger waves making the boat move in a harsher way. It wasn't a good thing for Natsu, the fire mage was nearly green and had already thrown up twice. Considering that it was a ten minute boat ride, it wasn't a good thing.

The other mages looked at their friend with some pity – they knew how difficult these things were for Natsu, and how much he probably missed Happy.

When they got to the jetty Natsu was the first to climb out of the boat, hurrying towards firm land. For a few instants it seemed like he might do something overly exaggerated like kneeling down and starting to kiss the sandy ground.

Thankfully that didn't happen.

Erza had a few words with the captain and so, the team was alone in the island once again.

The small moment of levity had vanished like vapour from a tea cup being blown by a harsh wind for the feeling of malevolence hadn't taken but an instant to shroud them in its heavy and dark cape. All the mages felt the shift, in their core. It felt as if even the blood on their veins was starting to freeze.

Shaking his head at such dark thoughts and feeling much better now that he had his feet planted on the ground, Natsu turned to his friends.

"Very well. Here we are again. Now what?"

There was a pause, the wind seeming to howl all around them in jest.

They started to walk down the already familiar path towards the mansion. Once again, they were feeling a certain resistance, almost as if even the air was opposing their presence there. That, in addition to the heaviness weighing down their shoulders, didn't leave the team in high spirits.

Somehow, they had the feeling that this trip to the island was going to be important. Maybe it would even explain all the weird happenings to the boys and even its disappearance and the such. Somehow, the mission had been put slightly aside, but that was normal since the boys' lives seemed to be in some kind of danger and they just had to find a way to solve that situation.

The tower was the first to salute them. Its sombre graveness alongside the fact that it was in a rundown state did give an imposing feeling. And then, the expanse that was the front yard, all the grey slabs of stone that led to the house. And then the mansion – it took all the attention, making the other buildings that were to its side look like mushrooms growing at the foot of a huge tree.

"Here we go." Said Lucy, voice trembling slightly. She grabbed her keys in a slightly shaking hand before giving a nod to herself and standing taller.

Erza was donning her usual armour but she was ready to change at one moment's notice. She was looking intently towards the second floor, where the windows and façade were covered with vegetation; millions of tiny eyes looking at them, waiting, expecting the next phase in whatever that was about to happen.

"Yup." Said Natsu. The fire mage was feeling suspicious but he was certain of one thing, he was going to get inside the room from where the off-feeling came from. Even if something was telling him – in screams that he couldn't understand or exactly _hear_ but that conveyed a sense of urgency – that he had to end whatever that was going on. And Natsu would be beyond pleased of doing that. He turned his head slightly to look at Gray in what in his mind passed as subtlety. The other mage frowned when he noticed the look he was being given by the fire mage.

"It's time." Gray said in a low voice, mostly to himself, while on the inside he was feeling wretched. His instincts were telling him that he shouldn't go inside. His instincts were telling him that he had two options, go to the forest or go to the sea – both of which he didn't like. But it was really odd. Gray had been feeling weak, frail even, before. He felt like he didn't have enough energy to get up from the chair he was sitting on but then he touched the pouch and felt slightly better. He put it on his pocket and nearly forgot about it as the team had headed to the sea. The cobalt waters, always coming and going, seemed to have refreshed him and the boat ride had been like a drink of crystalline water to a parched throat, as divine as it had felt. It seemed to have _melted_ the frozen walls and Gray didn't know what to think. He looked deep inside himself and found no answers, for the time being. On the distance he could hear a clock ticking and it seemed like time might be running out. But for what, he didn't know. It was worrying him.

This time around, the mansion had its doors open for them. No-one in the team had a good feeling about it. It was as if it was welcoming them with a malicious intent while an invisible patina of evilness was pouring from the inside and coating the stones from the ground and then evaporating – though the sun was pretty non-existent as it was covered by clouds – and spreading out through the air and being swept away by the wind, taking the noxious intent somewhere.

With a lot of wariness, the team approached the mansion. The stillness was complete, not even a single breeze entered the main entranceway despite the door being open, even the specks of dust dancing in the shafts of sun coming from the windows or the ones overhead, lit by the fuzzy light that came from the first floor seemed to have stilled, frozen in place by some unseen tendrils of substance that itched against the skin when the mages gave their first steps towards the inside of the mansion. Despite the wariness, the team continued on, heading towards the stairs. At one point, they broke in two groups, Natsu and Lucy were going to look into the painting near the nearly unseen door to the underground area while Gray and Erza would climb the first flight of stairs to look into the other painting. The fact of having split up wasn't too comforting and the tension was such that it might snap at any moment.

Gray looked up, the girl with the long, dark hair who was wearing the bracelet. Her expression was calm in the painting, quite different from the ones he had seen in his dream.

"She's here. And she has the bracelet." Gray pointed towards her arm. "Do you think that there might be any connection?"

Before Erza was able to reply, Natsu's stage-whisper broke the silence.

* * *

><p>"And here's the girl with the earring. She looks a bit strange…" Natsu mused the last bit, only Lucy being allowed to his thoughts.<p>

"I think you have a point." She agreed and pointed to the eyes. "Look here. She is smiling, her lips are tilted up, but I can sense some sadness in her eyes. What happened to her?" the blonde mage wondered, tilting her head to the side. "I would like to know who she was…"

* * *

><p>Seeing the others speaking among themselves, Gray turned to Erza, a sudden idea crossing his mind. "That connection thing, what do you think that it might be?" he asked.<p>

"I don't know. But some of the books I looked into with Lucy said something about a, huh, darkness or something?" The red head took a step closer to the painting, to check the detail that had been put into the drawing of the bracelet. It was very faithful to the real deal, it almost looked like that twinkle was still real and moving…

"Darkness?" Gray asked, seriously. "What might've that been…?"

"I don't know but… there were a lot of poems that spoke about the sea and, payment?, no, I don't remember… but it seemed like weird things. Probably nothing serious."

"Maybe that argument between the people and those… beings… was the thing to blame for it?" Gray scratched his chin pensively.

"Oh… that would be something, wouldn't it? But what could have tipped the scale between the populations if they had been coexisting peacefully so far?" Erza asked.

"I have no clue about that…" Gray shook his head. "But I don't think that the house here," he paused to give a knock to the wall, knocking on the hollow plaster, "is going to give us the answers we need."

"You might have a point. Still, we're clueless…" Erza shook her head. "And how are the other two faring?" she tried to peer over the stone handrail that was covering a clear vision to the place where the other two were.

* * *

><p>Natsu and Lucy were distracted looking at the painting, taking in the details and the sad expression on the eyes of the girl. They were trying to formulate hypothesis for her to be like that.<p>

"Maybe she didn't have friends?" Natsu tried.

"Do you think so? But, still, why would she be living here?" Lucy let her shoulders slump forward slightly before straightening up again. "I didn't see anything relating to the beginning of the existence of the island. Why… when?" she shook her head. "It doesn't make sense."

"Do you think that an empty old house will be able to give you the answers, Lucy?" Natsu asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, why not? I know that some things might give us answers. Maybe not all of them but, some." She shrugged at the end of her tirade.

"But I can bet that the real answers are there…" Natsu pointed to where the concealed door was. It was very well concealed, from where they were they didn't see anything. "Whatever's here is making such an effort to keep us outside of it that there has to be _something_ there. I can bet!"

"I'm not sure I want to know what it is, to be honest." The blonde mage shivered slightly. "I don't think that anything good is here, it's… evil…" she said in a hushed whisper, her mouth not moving much.

"I know what you mean." Natsu nodded emphatically. "It's _cold_ in here."

"Never thought I'd see you, a fire mage, complaining about the cold." Lucy said with a slightly forced smile, trying to force some humour to her voice.

"Ah. Ah. So funny. No, what I meant was… a cold that seems to be felt deep in your bones, despite the outward temperature being good. A chill to your soul." And he threw a reproachful look at his friend.

"Now I've seen it all," Lucy laughed mutely. "You're a bit sick, huh? To be saying those things." Her eyes shone with mirth and Lucy placed her left hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"Shut uuup." Natsu pouted, looking in the direction where the others were. He felt the urge to check on Gray. He just had to see where he was because, if this mission had shown him anything it was that Gray was a beacon to trouble. He quipped to himself that he was sad because he had held that position for such a long while… he might miss it… And then, with a snort and a shake of his head at himself, Natsu motioned to move back, to go check on their friends.

* * *

><p>The team reunited at the end of the staircase. With a quick exchange of words, they just realized that they had confirmed that the girls had lived at that house and, yes, they had been the owners of the items that had been given to the boys.<p>

Suddenly, the light inside the house changed, it diminished and then grew slowly before flickering for a few beats and then diminishing. The mages went into high alert but didn't have time to react as a wailing noise rose, so loud that it pierced right into their eardrums, nearly ripping them. The silence that followed was so all-encompassing that it felt as if sound had ceased to exist altogether, followed by the emerging beats of their hearts – each mage was listening to their own, muffling all the rest – and their heavy breathing.

And then a sharp wind started blasting, making the hidden door open with a bang and something from within it came and enveloped Natsu, making him disappear in the blink of an eye. It was followed by an ominous noise of a door closing.

And a beam of light hit the remaining mages, coming from the painting on the first landing of the stairs, blinding the girls momentarily.

There was the soft clearing of a throat before a voice said, "Now, it's my turn" before Gray's form dissolved into the light.

Erza and Lucy were left at the bottom of the stairwell, blinking and completely stupefied.

Natsu and Gray had just disappeared.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hey! I'm back. Whew, this week was filled with troubles. And then there was a stupid virus on my laptop and everything sucked. Thankfully that has been taken care of already. ^^

Anyway, I had a paper where I'd written some of the things that I'd thought about for this part. Alas, it's gone. I seem to have lost it. So I'm trying to remember what I'd planned but things are going a bit slow because I'm looking at this all over again and thinking things through. I don't want this to be a let-down (though, ugh, I'm fearing it sooo much!) so, I shall do my best to plot it again. And come up with a satisfactory ending. Hopefully it'll work. Haha…

Either way, tomorrow I think that I might reach the 50k (yaay! I'm so happy) but the story isn't over, obviously. I'll do my best to finish it asap. The daily 1667 words of NaNoWriMo shall continue to make me focus and to get to the end of this crazy story. I kid you not when I say that everything is the boys' fault. They're crazy, but we all know that… hehehe. ^^'

As usual, no beta (this chapter was, once again, the result of a bunch of word wars between me and a bunch of people – it's pretty fun - but still, without a reread) and, Citrus, hope you're still enjoying this. :P

Thank you so much to everyone who has tagged along – and continues to do so – it means so much to me… I can't qualify it.

Feedback is always beyond awesome! :D


	21. Twenty-One

Wind was cutting sharply at Gray, the dark haired mage closed his eyes because of that and tried to cover his face with his arms but still the wind ran sharply through his arms and he was being propelled.

And then, after a moment that was both immense and nearly nothing at all, everything stopped. The wind biting into his unprotected flesh – because, yes, his shirt was long gone by this moment – was gone and Gray was suspended in the middle of what looked like a grey cloud. Nothing was discernible but there was movement, different shades of grey that moved in the distance.

After being suspended, it was logical that a fall followed. And that was just what happened to Gray. The _clouds_ around him converged somewhere way underneath him, creating a whirlwind that picked up speed, faster and faster. And Gray dropped.

He couldn't help the whoosh of breath that left his lips, the pressure that started compressing his chest while razor-sharp claws seemed intent in plucking the flesh out of his body.

Before Gray was able to do anything his feet were impacting with hard ground and he instinctively rolled to break it though the joints on his legs and feet complained.

He grunted before scrambling to stand. There was… nothing. Just greyness of different shades and mists that seemed to stroll lazily all around.

He was alone in what seemed to be a world of mists and that was, understandably, a reason to be wary and on high alert. Gray stood, looking around, and tried to reach into his core, to call upon his magic but found himself unable to. A bubble of panic was starting to rise but Gray fought it down. He couldn't afford to panic in such a place.

And then he had the distinct feeling of a presence that was behind him. He turned around sharply only to come to face with _that_ person's grinning face.

"That was close, huh?" They said smugly.

Gray jolted at the words – what the hell was this person talking about?

"What the fuck do you mean?" he asked in a calm tone, impassive and cold like a glacier, not allowing any emotion to be expressed.

"What do you mean with that?" asked the female face, as they delicately pushed some short locks behind an ear. The grin was still in place.

"I mean that I want to know what the fuck is going on in here, what the fuck is this, who you are- I want answers." Gray exploded in a frustrated tirade, pacing to and fro all the while still keeping the person in his sight – at least, as much as was possible.

The male face suddenly stepped into his vision, the person stopping him by placing his hands on his shoulders.

"You'll get your answers, don't worry. But now it might be better if you go to where you're supposed to be. A place where you'll spend quiiiite a lot of time." There was mirth – and not necessarily for Gray's good, he couldn't help but thing – in his voice.

"Wait. What do you mean spend a lot of time?" Gray stopped and stood, not budging despite the iron-like band of the other's arm around his shoulders that was attempting to pull him somewhere.

"Come with me and I shall explain everything." Was the joyous reply, finally being able to make Gray move. "Come on, it's not all that far…"

And so they walked, the surrounding area was the same throughout their entire walk, but there was a moment where Gray felt as if he had been plunged under water so cold that he had a sudden flashback of his training with Ur and the first time that he had gone with Lyon to experience what they humorously called a cold bath. The humour was in the fact that they jumped into holes carved on the ice and the water was beyond gelid. But that flashback took but the blink of an eye and suddenly they were somewhere that was still mostly covered by mists but where outlines were starting to be seen.

"Not long, now…" the person dragging Gray said.

"What do you-?" Gray was losing his temper and so he pulled his arm out of the other's grasp and was about to start yelling when the other person let go of him and moved their arm in a wide arc.

"We're here." They said in a composed voice. "Now if you would follow me…"

They started leading Gray through a street of a town that seemed to have come around him out of thin air and in seconds. There was the noise of a crowd, coming from far, far away and the buildings were still in a dark shade of grey, tall and imposing and seemingly devoid of life. The doors were closed, the windows had their curtains or blinds closed, no movement.

'It's like a ghost town…' Gray mused. His wariness and sense of alert hadn't diminished one bit and now claustrophobia was joining in.

At the end of the road was a garden, well, Gray couldn't exactly quantify it as that but there were trees and paths and in the distance, apparently a body of water.

"They should be around here…" Gray heard the other mutter but he was too distracted trying to look around and not being caught unawares. "Oh well, doesn't matter, yet…"

The other led Gray to a pavilion that was over the water, they had to cross a small bridge to reach it. The floor of the pavilion was in dark floorboards but there were pillows scattered about and a low table in the middle of it. Against one closed wall was a bookcase filled with books.

'That's weird…' Gray thought while looking around and taking in the garish colours of the pillows – they were quite bright in contrast to the apparent film that seemed to cover everything and make it grey.

The other plopped on one of the large pillows and motioned at Gray to approach.

"Do come in, I'm going to answer your questions now…" they said in a bored voice, looking at the shore. Apparently they were waiting for someone. Gray gulped before entering the pavilion and taking a seat. He took care to be able to keep on guard, his back were to the wall and so he would be able to both see the other person and if someone entered the pavilion.

"So… where do you want to start?" They said while making funny drawings with the condensed water from the mist on the table top.

"Where is this? No, who are you and what the hell is going on?" Gray asked with a big twinge of irritation.

"It's easy, this is Sonolis. We have a link with the other…" the male face made a grimace, oozing with disgust, "… place. They call it Shelagris. So unfortunate…" The female face concluded morosely.

"Wh- why?" Gray asked, confused. He wasn't understanding what the other meant. "I mean, you call the island Sonolis?"

"The island?" Gray's interlocutor let out a bark that hid a laugh. "You poor thing. No. this country. It's Sonolis. The island is just a means to an end. And a point to draw energy from."

"No... the country is not Sonolis. And I'm pretty sure that the town has been called Shelagris for a long time." Gray said tentatively.

"In your world, maybe…" the other said as they placed their face on their outstretched palm. "But not here, no."

"My world?" Gray repeated, astonished. "What… don't tell me."

"That quick sprinkle with something cold? It was the change of planes. The island you saw is a portal of sorts. We go there for several reasons, one of them…" The other's free hand came to wave at Gray as if that explained everything.

"Yes… one of them…?" Gray was feeling as if he were being particularly obtuse but he just didn't seem to be able to comprehend what the other was meaning.

"Well, it's you."

Gray felt as if he had been encased in ice, both outside and inside. He gasped.

"Me?"

"It's in the deal." His interlocutor told him.

"What deal?" Gray spat as he stood, fists clenched tightly on both sides, trembling slightly. "I don't know anything about that and-" he floundered, not understanding and starting to shake his head.

"Hmm, so you're not from there, I see… well, that's not going to save you anyway. The deal is the deal and must be paid."

"What are you _still_ talking about?" Gray was yelling by now, rage filling him.

"What's all this yelling about?" came a female voice from behind Gray.

The dark haired mage turned and met two persons that should _not _be there.

The two girls from the paintings were there, in the flesh, looking calmly (if with some pity in their eyes) to him.

"You… you're not supposed to be here. It's been too long… how can you still be here?" Gray gasped after saying that whole tirade, thoughts colliding the same way as his words, in one single breath.

"You didn't think you were the first one, did you?" came the bored reply.

Gray turned so suddenly that he nearly got whiplash.

"First…" he repeated, his lips barely moving with the shock.

"Yes. You, like these two lovely girls." The being pointed at them, the gesture managing to appear mocking. "You were chosen after some events… occurred. And now here you are. Sacrifices for eternity."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Gray raged, looking by the corner of his eye at the girls who had sat down and were looking into the table top, their expressions hard to read but an aura of dejectedness emanating from them.

"Didn't you hear about the Darkness?" was the all too innocuous question.

"I heard of it." Gray finally sat down again, focused in getting his answers. "But I didn't understand what it was."

"Well…" The other started in a sing-song voice. "Where should I start…" The face of the woman gave a sharp smirk. "Ah, right. You may not know but that… town," once more the lips curled in disgust, "is a strong magical point. We happen to need that energy and so the portal came to place. For a long time we lived there, in communion with the people, drawing all the energy we needed, not going through the boundaries created. But one day the humans there did something that we didn't like. One bit. They overstepped their bounds and we made them pay." The young man closed his hand in a fist. "And so what they called of Darkness happened. We took one of them to make them pay," the words were said in a dispassionate tone but Gray's eye was drawn to both girls who shuddered at the last words, "and withdrew our support. The island continued there to draw the magic but the wealth and plenty they were used to was gone." The other snapped his fingers, making a small tendril of smoke rise from them. "Of course that we're magnanimous," he clasped his hands in front of his chest after having swept them to include the space around them, "so we returned to our previous state of affairs. The others had their hand in it too." He concluded offhandedly. "But then of course that the humans had to do the same mistakes all over again. And once again the lesson was needed."

"So what? People misbehaved again and you snatched the first person that appeared?" Gray said in spite.

"Not the first person, no…" was the pensive reply. "Some attributes were needed."

"Don't tell me, I've those attributes…" Gray said with contempt.

"You can bet." Their interlocutor answered with a smile. "You have a core of ice."

"Wh- what? What has my magic to do with this?"

"Well, everything, no? Didn't you notice it? The change in magic? The warm tendrils curling around it and warming everything, the ice melting against the onslaught of salt water?" As the other was enumerating these things Gray started shaking his head.

"No. That can't be. It can't…" He was in denial.

"Think closely. It can and it did. The sea calling to you. The Darkness is coming and you're going to be its sacrifice this time around. And we're not going to let you leave." The last sentence was said in a serious tone, of true belief.

"Ah. That's what we're going to see." Gray shot back. "I'm not going to just stand here and not do nothing."

"Ahh, but you don't have the knowledge. Or the connection. Those _earth bound_ have no connection to you. Or any say in this matter. We did allow them to create that… settlement in the island to shelter the humans that were stupid enough to want to go there but the blood shed was enough pay."

"Earth bound…" Gray blinked. New things just kept being thrown into the conversation and at some point it seemed like Gray's head had been filled with cotton.

"Yes. To be simple, the girls are going to hear this once again, there are three… factions? – May we call it that? – that reside in or near what you know as the town of Shelagris. There's the portal that connects it to Sonolis and we control the forest in the island; there are the humans who made a small settlement in the island, thinking that they might find something in there and finally there are others, like us, who are connected to the forest and earth, the same way that we have a big inkling towards the sea. I hadn't told you this yet, had I?" The female face enquired, tapping a finger on her lower lip. "Those who are called earth bound live in the forest. They create a sort of buffer which allows Shelagris to have this sort of magical micro-climate that you don't find anywhere. Still, we're stronger and better at wielding the magic and so those others are inconsequential to what matters."

Gray sat, eyes wide as he tried to assimilate the whole load of information.

"And now, what?" he asked, finally.

"Now, you're ours." The other replied with a sharp smirk, all teeth. "And hold on a minute, I'm being called…" he got up and left the pavilion.

Gray ended up sitting at the table with the two girls who were looking sadly at him.

"What happens now?" he whispered.

"You're taken to the square so that they can deplete your magic every day until the next darkness comes. And then it happens again but your magic is joined by the other person."

"Wait. That has been happening to you ever since you, huh, got here?" Gray asked in shock.

His reply came in the form of nods from both girls.

"It's strange. Because time is different here. The days don't feel the same, you know?" Asked the younger one. "But I miss my parents. And my friends. If only… he… hadn't died…" She said in a low voice.

"Who died?" Gray was curled forward on the table.

"My friend. It was because of him that it started." She concluded, voice nearly inaudible and she was shrinking, trying to make the smallest target possible.

"I don't get it." Gray shook his head.

"See, we were both mages, as you probably already guessed. The magic might have been different from what you know but, I heard them say that my magic core was related to the earth while hers was to the air. I don't know if they mean to do anything because they caught us or if it was just as payment because of the people's pettiness. What I know is that we're captive here because…" the dark haired girl – who Gray thought of as the girl from the bracelet – paused, playing with a lock of her long hair as she had a vague look in her eyes. "We're here because we didn't have a connection with the ground. The way they called it, we were not moored and they could snatch us. They had these comparisons to the sea and boats and at the time I was just too tired. So, our fate is to stay here and channel things to them."

"But, you can't stay here. It's not-" Gray started shaking his head but his arm was caught in a tight grasp.

The dark haired girl looked fiercely at him.

"You can go back. I sense that you have the connection to the ground," her eyes flickered down to the table but Gray realized that she was speaking about something he had in his pocket. "And that way you can find a way to break the connection. You'll have to weather a lot of problems that _they_ will no doubt give you but you can." She nodded fiercely.

"Yes, don't worry about us. Our lives were forfeit anyway. Maybe by cutting the link we'll be left alone…" the blonde girl continued.

"I… how can it be?" Gray shot a look at the pavilion's entrance. "I have no clue about any of this."

"Ah, the adjustment. You'll get used to it. Or better yet, escape from here before that." The shorter girl said seriously.

"But I really don't think that you should be left behind." Gray curled his hands and placed them on the table.

"Don't worry. The important thing is stopping the energy leech into these. They speak of the Darkness and all that – which is also a power play between them and the others, the ones from the forest – but they haven't been all that pure as they want to appear."

"Closing the portal is essential." The dark haired one repeated.

"Hm, I'll…" Gray was nodding, his right hand had gone to his pocket where it had curled around the pouch the old lady had given him.

Knowing that there might be a chance to go back gave him hope.

Because he really wanted to go return home.

* * *

><p>Erza and Lucy had found themselves being expelled from the house in the moment the winds had hit – and the boys disappeared.<p>

To Erza it was a kind of déjà vu to land on her backside on the hard slabs of stone of the front yard. Not that it had made things better, no, the stone was as hard on the second time around as it had been on the first.

Lucy had been on her side, falling with an "oooph" and a string of expletives. She slowly came to a sitting positon and looked at Erza then at the mansion and then back at Erza.

"Did we just get thrown out of the house?" she asked, blinking successively.

"Would seem so. And the boys, there they went." Erza let out a groan and ran a hand down her face.

"Yeah…" Lucy said with a sigh. "And now. What do we do?"

"Try to get back there? Natsu's there. And maybe Gray, too…" the red head said as she slowly got up.

"And what do you think about the disappearing of the house in the town?" Lucy asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" Erza looked at her, confused by the non sequitur. "What does that have to do with anything that's happening here?"

"I was just wondering. You know… I got the feeling that something was fishy when we got to the place where they said that the house was and it was… a tree. Their baffled faces kind of… I just remembered them."

"Lucy. Are you feeling well? Did you knock your head or something?" Erza seemed to be flabbergasted.

"Ah, never mind. I was just wondering out loud. And I didn't hit my head or anything." She made appeasing gestures with her hands.

"Alright then. Let's go see if we can get our friends back." Erza said.

The two mages strode to the house.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I reached the 50k words! I'm quite happy right now. =D

So, we got some chunks of explanations here. They were a bit… weird – shall I call it? – and, hm, not overly surprising, I think. Hm, sorry?

But I must admit, I had a few ideas but they seem to be taking a new course because in this chapter I wrote a bunch of unexpected things and I really have no clue… these boys are quite hard to tame and I really didn't let them take over the story – but they did anyway. *grumbles*

So, yeah, there shall be a handful of chapters before the story comes to a conclusion. We better hope for the best. xD

As usual, no beta (the inconsistencies are to be blamed on my brain, eek), there were word wars in the middle and Citrus dedicating it to ya. Hope you liked the chapter. ^^'

My utmost thanks to those who have been following the story and if I could give cookies to those who have commented, I would. I do feel like baking… :3

There's just a little to go (I think) but the feedback is always welcomed.


	22. Author's Note

Hey there!

Many apologies for having gone MIA but this month I was, firstly, hit by a small case of procrastination - November was tough xD - (and we both know what procrastination means, right Citrus?) and then my other fandom is going through some hard times.

So, yeah, I'm focusing on the other fandom for the moment and that makes this story in partial hiatus. Updates will return in January! :D

(And let's see if I manage to post the two-shot before that. It's just a quick PWP :P)

In the meanwhile, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and let's hope that the New Year's a good one. ^^

Bisou~


End file.
